Vladimir Putin,
the Russian President, has called for a ‘partial mobilisation’, meaning armed
reserves and those trained in military combat would be called into fight the
war in Ukraine. This would give the Russian army around 300,000 more soldiers.
Moments after Putin announced a partial mobilisation, many Russian citizens started
booking flights out of the country.

Soon, flights to
Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were booked for Wednesday, Russian
travel websites showed. Flights to Turkey capital Istanbul are booked till
Saturday.

Why are
Russians flying out?

Many Russians fear
that although ‘partial mobilisation’ does not immediately get everyone to fight
the Ukraine war, it readies the stage for full mobilisation. Full mobilisation
would mean that everyone between 18 and 65 years of age would be drafted to
fight the war. Apprehensive of what may come, many Russians are looking to
leave.

Putin throws
a spanner

As the Kremlin got
whiff that many Russians were looking to leave, officials are now stopping
military age people from leaving the country, Fortune, a US-based business news
organisation reported. Only those military-age Russians who have permission
from the Russian Ministry of Defence will be allowed to leave the country.

Why is Russia
calling for partial mobilisation?

Putin’s call for
partial mobilisation is bound to be unpopular among the wider citizenry.
However, as Moscow troops suffered defeat in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region,
the nationalist section of the Russian citizenry started blaming Putin for not
doing enough in order to win the Ukraine war. What was supposed to be a
three-day ‘special military operation’ has stretched for months and the morale
of the Russian military was also sinking.

What happens
if there’s a full mobilisation?

A full
mobilisation would mean that everyone in the age group of 18 to 65 would have
to go to war with Ukraine. Sections of the western media say ordinary Russians think
of the Ukraine war as Putin’s war, one that they did not agree to, while there
are others in the Russian nationalist camp which doesn’t think full
mobilisation would be such a bad thing.