Queues as long as 10 kilometers (6 miles) formed on a road leading to the southern border with Georgia, according to Yandex Maps, a Russian online mapping service. Lines of cars were so long at the border with Kazakhstan that some people abandoned their vehicles and walked — just as some Ukrainians did after Russia invaded their country on February 24. Meanwhile, dozens of flights out of Russia — with tickets sold at high prices — carried men to international destinations such as Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Serbia, where Russians do not need visas. Among those who arrived in Turkey was a 41-year-old man who landed in Istanbul with a suitcase and a backpack and plans to start a new life in Israel. “I am against this war and I am not going to be part of it. I’m not going to be a murderer. I’m not going to kill people,” said the man, who identified himself only as Yevgeny to avoid possible retribution against his family left behind in Russia. He referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal”. Yevgeny decided to leave after Putin announced a partial military call-up on Wednesday. The total number of reservists involved could reach 300,000. Some Russian men also fled to neighboring Belarus, Russia’s close ally. But this was fraught with danger. Nasha Niva, one of the oldest independent newspapers in Belarus, reported that Belarusian security services were ordered to track down Russians who escaped the camp, find them in hotels and rented apartments and report them to Russian authorities. German government officials expressed a desire to help Russian deserters and called for a European solution. “Those who bravely resist the Putin regime and thereby put themselves in great danger can apply for asylum in Germany due to political persecution,” said a spokeswoman for German Interior Minister Nancy Feiser. The spokesman, Maximilian Kahl, said deserters and those who refuse to be drafted would be granted refugee status in Germany if they were at risk of serious repression, although each case was considered individually. But they would first have to reach Germany, which has no land border with Russia, and like other European Union countries it has become much more difficult for Russians to travel. The EU banned direct flights between its 27 member states and Russia after the attack in Ukraine and recently agreed to limit the issuance of Schengen visas, which allow free movement across much of Europe. Four of the five EU countries bordering Russia — Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland — also recently decided to turn away Russian tourists. Some European officials view Russian defectors as potential security risks. They hope that by not opening their borders, the pressure against Putin at home will increase. Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Thursday that many of those who fled “were happy to kill Ukrainians. They didn’t protest then. It is not right to think of them as conscientious objectors.” The only EU country that still accepts Russians on Schengen visas is Finland, which has a 1,340 km (830 mi) border with Russia. Finnish border guards said on Friday that the number of people entering from Russia had risen sharply, with media reporting a 107 percent increase compared to last week. At Vaalimaa, one of the busiest border crossings, the line of waiting cars stretched for half a kilometer (a third of a mile), the Finnish Border Guard said. Finnish television network MTV broadcast interviews with Russian men who had just crossed into Finland at the Virolahti border crossing, including a man named Yuri from Moscow, who said that no “sane person” wants to go to war. A Russian from St. Petersburg, Andrei Balakirov, said he was mentally prepared to leave Russia for half a year, but left it until the mobilization. “I think it’s a very bad thing,” he said. Valery, a man from Samara who was heading to Spain, agreed, calling the mobilization “a great tragedy.” “It’s hard to describe what’s happening. I feel sorry for those who are forced to fight against their will. I’ve heard stories of people receiving these orders right on the streets – terrifying.”
Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Berlin. Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland. Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark. and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed.
