Demand Jumps for Flights Out of Russia

By Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal, Sept 21, 2022 [scroll down link for below item]

image from article, with caption: A banner reading 'The task will be executed' on the facade of a building in downtown Moscow.
MAXIM SHIPENKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK

Tickets for flights out of Russia were in high demand Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin ordered the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for his war in Ukraine.

Google Trends showed a jump in searches for Aviasales, Russia's most popular website for buying airline tickets. The phrase "how to avoid mobilization" was also trending.

Most Western countries halted flights to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, leaving Russians with few options for exit routes where they also don't need visas. All flights to Yerevan, Armenia, a popular destination for Russian emigres fleeing Mr. Putin, were sold out on Wednesday, Aviasales showed.

Turkish Airlines and Russian national carrier Aeroflot are sold out of direct flights between Moscow and Istanbul until Sunday. There were no direct flights left to Istanbul or Dubai, according to Aviasales, and they ran at $1,200 for a one-way ticket, more than the average monthly salary in Russia. 

***

Addendum:

"Andrey V. Kartapolov, the head of the Russian Parliament’s defense committee, advised reservists not to try to leave the country, promising that military service would be lucrative. 

'If you are called, you will pay the mortgage from your new pay, which will be very high,' he said.

From The New York Times, 9/21/2022 (scroll down the link for item, under the title "Putin’s speech marks a shift from a strategy that allowed most Russians to ignore the war.")

Comments

  1. shakistoSeptember 22, 2022 at 5:30 PM

    I believe that in the USA reservists are used only in case of a national emergency. Does the war in Ukraine qualify as a national emergency? In Putin's eyes, probably so, since losing it would likely mean the end of his reign, and the failure to achieve his goals would be counted as a loss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John Brown's Notes and Essays, including on Public DiplomacySeptember 23, 2022 at 2:37 PM

      Sha--A cynical view re the need expressed by Putin for more Russian soldiers -- a kind of draft to die in/against Ukraine -- perhaps shared, not publicly, by the young urban (Moscow, S.P. Vlad) upper, "westernized" bourgeoisie in those cities, who may have to "fight" on behalf Putin's imperial dreams: "Why should I die for a for these provincial "Putin" hicks? I want a decent education, not fight for the Putinland. How else I can "make it" in a financially globalized world?

      Delete

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