Millions of Russian citizens are trying to avoid drafting due to Putin’s plan to deploy 300,000 Russians and reservists to fight the war in Ukraine. The attempted mobilization, which was announced on September 21, planned to reclaim ex-Soviet (now Ukrainian) land. The announcement has caused thousands of Russians to flee to other countries in order to escape the draft.

Many Russians are fleeing for Georgia, a neighboring nation south of Russia in the Caucasus region, in an attempt to escape the draft. “Lines of cars stretched back at least nine miles from …the border with Georgia, far longer than the usual backup,” says Stephen Wood, senior director at Maxar Technologies from The Washington Post. 

Simply running away from the army after being drafted is not only far harder but also far riskier than fleeing the country. And as if things couldn’t get worse for the fleeing Russians, restrictions were made on travel to Georgia as well. Authorities…ordered a restriction of car travel to the Russian republic that neighbors Georgia…after tens of thousands fled over the border to escape the…mobilization drive,” says The Moscow Times. 

The National Interest says the Russian government is preparing to pass a law to punitize Russians fleeing for Georgia as well; this law sets punishments for desertion to 20 years in prison at the most or a 2.5 million Ruble fine ($40,000 USD). In the included picture, dozens upon dozens of cars are seen heading for the Russia-Georgia border with a line of vehicles that stretches beyond what is seen.

“One-way flights out of Russia were rocketing in price and selling out fast,” says Reuters. Russian citizens are leaving by sky as well, causing plane tickets to become scarcer, costly, and in some cases completely unavailable. Some one-way flights, like ones to Dubai have skyrocketed in price, upwards of 300,000 Russian rubles or $5,000 USD, says The New York Post. “…Google Trends data showed a spike in searches for Aviasales, Russia’s most popular flight-booking site” , said Reuters. 

However, not everybody is able to, and can afford, to leave the country, leading desperate Russians to turn to the only option they have: self injury. “Google searches for ‘How to break your arm at home’ have soared in [Russia]…” says The New York Post . “Russians researched how to break their own arms…after President Vladimir Putin said he would deploy citizens to Ukraine…” 

Many Niles North students are outraged about Putin’s actions and apprehensive on the safety of the fleeing Russians, including Russian sophomore Jacob Rapoport. 

“It’s horrible what [Putin] has done and I think his attempt to conquer Ukraine is disrespectful not just to Ukraine but also it’s disrespectful to the idea of a sovereign nation,” Rapaoport said. “I’m very worried for the people trying to leave Russia and I hope they succeed and what will they do? What will happen to them?” 

Another Russian sophomore, Alice Elterman shares similar opinions on the recent events. “…[the mobilization and its effects] seems very similar in my opinion to what my parents have told me about the Soviet Union,” Elterman said. “I feel like it’s a bad decision because the act of one (basically) dictator does not represent everyone living inside of their country. I think it’s just sad that so many people are getting affected by the decision of one guy…I know that if they don’t follow orders they’ll be killed, but they’re still killing people [if they follow through].”

These actions from Putin and their causes make people curious about what’s to come with the war between Russia and Ukraine. Others are worried for the safety of fleeing Russians and Ukrainians that do all that’s possible to avoid being killed or killing other people.