Some were given just four hours warning of their conscription
Desperate wives have threatened to break the bones of their husbands so that they don’t have to join the Russian invasion of the Ukraine war.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin ordered 300,000 reservist civilians to join his war effort in Ukraine, the first time these reserves have been mobilised since World War Two.
Following his announcement, tens of thousands of citizens tried to flee Russia with queues forming at the country’s borders with Finland, Georgia and Mongolia.
Queues at airports were filtered to check that no men fit enough to fight were trying to escape. Any who were deemed fit enough were blocked from leaving, even if they had tickets or visas for another country, the Mirror reports.
Google Trends data seen by Reuters showed a spike in searches for Aviasales, which is Russia’s most popular website for purchasing flights.
Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia, both destinations that allow Russians to enter without a visa, were almost sold out on Wednesday, according to the site data.
https://twitter.com/sotiridi/status/1572568782748680194
More than 1,000 arrests were made overnight as anti-war demonstrations took place across 38 cities in protest against the escalation of the Ukraine war by Putin.
There are reports and videos appearing to show men being summoned and sent to military training on busses, or reporting to enlistment offices with their belongings.
Some are said to have had just four hours warning that they were being called up.
A 62-year-old trauma doctor in Ussuriysk was visited by mobilisation staff as his wife refused to take the document. Staff went to his clinic “posing as patients” and handed up the summons to war, giving him just four hours to pack.
There are reports of similar timescales in the Russian far east, with some being woken in the night and told they need to obey Putin’s orders.
Some desperate women even threatened to break their husbands’ bones so that they were unfit to serve.
A wife from Tyumen in Siberia said: “I will not let my husband go. I’ll break both his legs. His duty is to raise his children.”
This has led to authorities having to issue a special warning to potential recruits that they could face legal sanctions if they self-harm to avoid the call-up.
First clips coming out of Russia this morning of draftees saying bye to their families. This from a small town in Yakutsk. Credits @taygainfo pic.twitter.com/tlaVRoDgLT
— Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) September 22, 2022
Some men apparently tried to wed women with multiple children to avoid having to fight in Ukraine.
Anna, a Muscovite, 46, said: “A friend, a single mother of five was proposed to today.
“She laughed so hard when she told me about it, and said looks like she will be super popular in the near future.
“It seems men with three or more children will not be mobilised.”
On Tuesday, Putin warned western leaders that Moscow would use “all the means” at its disposal to “protect” itself, saying: “It’s not a bluff.”
In a national address, the president accused western leaders of engaging in “nuclear blackmail” against Moscow – and said he has “lots of weapons to reply.”
He also backed the call for referendums in eastern and southern Ukraine on becoming integral parts of Russia as he blamed the west for turning Ukrainians into “cannon fodder.”
Related links:
- Russians pack only international flights out of Moscow after Putin orders partial mobilisation
- Editor-in-chief of Russian propaganda newspaper dies after mysteriously ‘suffocating’ on business trip
- Joyous Ukrainians queue for take-outs as McDonald’s reopens in Kyiv
