Russians flee into Armenia to avoid mobilization
Hugh Bohane
Russian citizens arrive at Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport from Moscow. Picture: © Hugh Bohane
In the days following President Vladimir Putin’s ‘partial’ mobilization orders to Russian citizens aged 18 and over, thousands of Russian citizens opposed to the war in Ukraine packed their belongings in a panic, said goodbye to family members and took flights out of the country.
Post-Soviet countries such as Georgia and Armenia were two of the preferred destinations for many Russian citizens escaping the draft. Russians currently don’t require a visa for Georgia and are allowed to stay there for 365 days. However, due to this unprecedented influx of Russian citizens, the ‘liberal’ visa policy might change according to Georgian President Salome. Meanwhile, Russian travellers are entitled to 180-day visas in Armenia.
Since the beginning of Putin’s so-called ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine back on February 24 and until August of this year, it is estimated that nearly 654,648 Russians have arrived in Armenia, and more than 132,000 came in September alone. Roughly 30,000 have fled to neighbouring Georgia since this September. Sky-rocketing consumer inflation and sharp increases in rental properties in both Georgia and Armenia are taking a toll on residents.
I visited Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport to speak to exhausted Russians arriving in Armenia from Moscow to begin their new lives. All of them spoke to us on the basis that we would not use their real names or publish any photos of them.
Looking up at the arrivals teleprompter inside it displayed multiple flights arriving from Moscow as well as smaller Russian cities.
“In the airport in Moscow, they [Russian customs officials] were checking all men aged 18 to 35 years old… They want men with army experience, the situation was tense. I am older than 35 years old and so I was just asked some questions and then they let me go. They wanted to know why I am leaving, when I bought the ticket…they asked me if I bought it yesterday and why?” said Dmitri*, an IT worker from Moscow.
Dimitri is one of the lucky Russians in that he wasn’t drafted because of his age and has work already lined up in an IT company in Yerevan.
“Yerevan is a preferred choice for Russians to head to, actually I love this city and I have been here before, also Antalya in Turkey is a second choice, along with Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and Tbilisi in Georgia,” said Dimitri.
He went on to say that on September 21, nearly all flight tickets out of Moscow were fully booked. He said that, fortunately, he didn’t have to pay as much as some other passengers did but his ticket cost a bit more than 2,000 euros one-way for a flight that in the past would have only cost a few hundred euros.
Some Russians have reported to the press that they had to pay as high as 5,000 euros for a one-way flight ticket from Moscow to Dubai.
I asked Dimitri whether Putin’s popularity inside Russia would further slide over this recent development.
“I think not, maybe it will have a little bit of an effect but not so big, Putin still has a lot of support,” he said.
In terms of any of his support for the war in Ukraine, he said, “I am a pacifist and this is very hard for me, hearing about people dying in the war, I don’t know a lot about the reasons for this war, I am not a politician, I just want the killing to stop.”
What were Dimitri’s theories about how long the war might continue?
“I don’t know, I think it will continue for half a year, that would be the minimum,” he said.
I also spoke to a younger Russian male who had just walked through arrivals for his views on the current situation.
“Most of my friends are afraid of the military draft, flight tickets to another country from Russia are extremely expensive and sometimes it isn’t possible to buy any tickets because they are all sold out,” said Sergei*, a 25-year-old IT worker from Moscow.
Sergei’s mother, fortunately, works for the biggest Russian airline company, Aeroflot, and she can buy last-minute tickets when passengers cancel their tickets for any reason.
“I decided to buy a ticket to Yerevan because I don’t know what might happen tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow the borders will be closed and nobody can leave the country,” he said.
The Russian government is telling their citizens that they are only drafting 18–35-year-olds in this first wave of mobilization and those who already have military experience but in fact, they are taking older people, the sick, the disabled, minority Russians and Russians from the countryside. Additionally, Russia is recruiting men from post-Soviet countries such as Kazakhstan and others to fight on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.
“Our country is divided into two parts, people who don’t want war and people who want to live in peace. For Russian people who already support the war, they will think Putin’s latest mobilization is a good decision,” said Sergei.
I asked Sergei about the recent anti-war and anti-mobilization protests inside Russia, where thousands of people have been arrested and he said, “When the war started my mother and I attended anti-war protests and my mother was arrested and had to pay a 200 euro fine… for Russian people that is a lot of money,” he said.
“Now only radical people attend protests because it is extremely dangerous. People who go to the protests can be arrested by the police and then they have to sign a piece of paper and they are sent to fight in the war in Ukraine, it’s crazy.”
I wanted to know if Sergei felt relieved and safe now that he had landed in Yerevan.
“To tell you the truth, I am 99 per cent sure we will see the third world war and nuclear bombs [used by Putin] etc. etc. and I don’t think I can find any country that would be safe,” said Sergei.
He went on to say that he doesn’t support Russia’s war in Ukraine and most of his friends don’t either.
Sergei told me that he had visited Armenia back in 2020 and said he loved Armenia and always wanted to come back. I asked if his family has a plan to visit him in Armenia.
“My dad supports the war so I don’t think he will want to come to Armenia, my mother is pretty old but it is possible, but not now, I have a sister and she has three children and so it is very difficult for her to leave and change the country with children,” said Sergei, who then told me his taxi had arrived and that he had to go.
I wandered out of the airport onto the footpath to the taxi queue where other Russians were waiting to be picked up by taxis. There I approached another young Russian man smoking a cigarette while waiting for his taxi and who also spoke to me with a conversational level of English.
“It hurt leaving [Russia], you know, I want to live, I want to make money, I want to be free and that’s a problem and a big question for Russian citizens…how do you want to live?” said Yaroslav*, a 22-year-old online worker from Moscow.
“Armenia is close to Russia and Armenians have a similar mentality [to Russians]. But I will go to Thailand in a couple of days…I guess there might be a revolution [in Russia], I hope it isn’t bloody, I don’t want to see blood, who does?”
“I have ten [Russian] friends fighting in Ukraine, I would say they are my brothers, my soulmates, it hurts, because a couple of my friends are now with guns but they should be with money, not guns, they should be free.”
Yaroslav said also that he couldn’t wait to go on to Phuket, Thailand where the weather and air quality are good. I asked him about how difficult it was to leave his family behind in Russia.
“It hurts, my mum and my dad, they are amazing people, I love them so much, it hurts, you know, it was very emotional to see how your mum cries, how your dad is nervous,” said Yaroslav choked up and holding back tears.
“My brother is in the first line, he is 21 years old, and he can’t get out of Russia for a lot of reasons…for one, he doesn’t have any money.”
*Pseudonyms were used to protect people’s identities.
Hugh Bohane is an Australian multimedia freelance journalist who covers conflict and is currently based in Yerevan.
