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Kremlin calls reports of draft-aged men fleeing the country ‘exaggerated’
Vladimir, a passenger from the Moscow-Belgrade flight operated by Air Serbia, speaks to the media at the airport in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Large numbers of Russians rushed to book one-way tickets out of the country while they still could after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of military reservists for the war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
The Kremlin says reports of military-aged men fleeing Russia after Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization are “exaggerated,” according to Reuters.
Putin ordered the risky mobilization after setbacks for his troops nearly seven months after they invaded Ukraine in the first call-up in Russia since World War II.
Many responded by trying to leave the country, and flights out quickly became booked and the cost of tickets soared.
