Russia's recruits are fleeing: probably 260,000 are already out of the country - reports of the first exit stops

Created: 09/27/2022, 17:55

By: Franziska Schwarz

For the first time, the Kremlin has admitted "mistakes" in the partial mobilization.

Meanwhile, the protests continue.

News ticker on the situation in Russia.

• Against

  mobilization

  by

  Putin

  : Man shoots in Russian conscription office

• Protests

  in

  Russia

  : Resistance to partial mobilization escalates

• Partial mobilization

  triggers

  flight

  from Russia: families in panic

• This

  news ticker

  on the

  mood in Russia

  in the

  Ukraine war

  has ended.

Update from September 27, 8.35 a.m .:

Since the announcement of the Russian partial mobilization last week, 260,000 Russian men are said to have left the country.

As the Russian newspaper "Nowaya Gazeta" reports, the men are said to have avoided a possible war effort by fleeing.

The Russian media company "The Bell" reports that men are now even being refused exit at airports and border crossings.

Reports circulated yesterday that a man set himself on fire to avoid military service (see previous update).

Russian men drafted as part of the partial mobilization gather in the city of Bastaisk.

© Erik Romanenko/imago-images

Russian conscientious objector sets himself on fire in public – "I don't want to go to the front!"

Update from September 26, 7:57 p.m .:

According to media reports, a man in Russia set himself on fire out of despair over his imminent conscription to the war against Ukraine.

The media

on Monday published video from a surveillance camera showing a person dousing himself with liquid and shortly afterwards burning his whole body.

According to eyewitnesses, the burning man at the bus station in the city of Ryazan, about 200 kilometers south-east of Moscow, shouted: "I don't want to go to the front!"

Police officers are said to have extinguished the fire and the man is said to have been injured and taken to a hospital.

There were different reports in the Russian media about his exact state of health.

There were initially no official announcements about the incident, which is said to have happened on Sunday.

Krem spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Moscow has not yet made a decision on the introduction of martial law

Update from September 26, 6:32 p.m.:

In order to avoid being called up for the war in Ukraine, tens of thousands of men recently fled Russia.

There are reports of coercion and violence in the recruitment process as part of the partial mobilization.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the Russian leadership has not yet made a decision on the introduction of martial law.

If martial law were introduced, able-bodied men would no longer be allowed to leave Russia.

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Kremlin admits mistakes in Russian partial mobilization for the first time

Update from September 26, 3:35 p.m

.: The Kremlin has now admitted “mistakes” in the Russian partial mobilization.

"Indeed, there were cases when the decree was violated," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"In some regions, governors are actively working to rectify the situation."

When asked about border closures in the face of protests and the departure of numerous Russians of fighting age, he said that "no decision" had been made so far.

Against mobilization by Putin: Man shoots in Russian conscription office

First report from September 26

: Irkutsk/Moscow - The partial mobilization rejected by many Russians has consequences, and not only in the form of street protests in Russia: Now a reservist shot at the head of a conscription office and seriously injured the man.

The incident took place in the eastern Siberian city of Ust-Ilimsk in the Irkutsk region, the region's governor Igor Kobsev told Telegram on Monday (September 26).

The information could not initially be independently verified.

"The shooter was arrested immediately and will definitely be punished," Kobsev said.

The 25-year-old reservist who was to be drafted was arrested.

The condition of the "military commissar" is critical, said Kobsev.

"The doctors are fighting for his life."

Shots fired in Russian conscription office: "Nobody goes anywhere"

As the

claims to have learned, the perpetrator was in an uproar because his best friend was called up.

He himself had probably not received any notification.

The

, in turn, quoted an alleged witness to the crime: When the employee explained the procedure to those summoned, a man stepped out of the line and said: "No one is going anywhere." Then three shots were heard.

Critics have accused the authorities of concentrating their mobilization efforts in remote areas such as Siberia and the North Caucasus in order to avoid sparking resistance in the urban regions and especially Moscow.

Protests in Russia: Resistance to partial mobilization escalates

In the Russian republic of Dagestan, resistance to the drafts escalated in several places over the weekend.

Women threw their fists at police officers to prevent their husbands, sons or brothers from dying in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Police officers arrest demonstrators during a protest against the Russian partial mobilization in St. Petersburg.

(Photo from September 24) © dpa

Many shouted that they had nothing against Ukrainians and therefore would not shoot at them.

A police officer fired a submachine gun in the air to calm the angry crowd.

At times, a long-distance road was closed with sit-ins by the Dagestanis.

Partial mobilization triggers flight from Russia: families in panic

In order to avoid conscription, tens of thousands of men fled the country by plane or by car, for example across the borders to the ex-Soviet republics of Kazakhstan (Central Asia) or Georgia (South Caucasus).

Many families in Russia are terrified of losing loved ones in the war.

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Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had ordered the partial mobilization.

300,000 reservists are now to be drafted into the Russian army.

At the same time, Putin had tightened the laws against conscientious objectors.

The responsibility for organizing the conscription lies with the regional governors and the individual district military replacement offices on site.