Dmitri flew to Armenia with just a small bag, leaving his wife and children behind and adding to the thousands fleeing Russia to avoid serving in the war against Ukraine.

“I don’t want to go to war,” he told AFP. “I don’t want to die in this senseless war. This is a civil war.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision this week to mobilize several hundred thousand reservists has sparked a fresh exodus across the country’s borders.

“The situation in Russia would make anyone want to leave,” said another newcomer, 44-year-old Sergei, who arrived with his teenage son.

Looking lost and exhausted at an Armenian airport, he confirmed they fled “because of mobilization” but refused to give his full name.

“We’d rather not wait for the draft,” says his 17-year-old son Nikolai. “I’m not panicking, but I feel this uncertainty,” he added.

It was a sentiment shared by other Russians who came to Yerevan on the same flight.

“It’s wrong to go to war in the 21st century – to put it mildly,” Alexei, 39, told AFP.

He is not sure if he will ever be able to return to Russia, he added. “It all depends on the situation.”

Military-age men made up the majority of those arriving on the last flight from Moscow. Many hesitated to speak.

Yerevan has become a key target for fleeing Russians since the war began on February 24.

Armenia says at least 40,000 Russians have since arrived in the tiny Caucasus country that was once part of the Soviet Union.

Nearly 50,000 Russians have fled to neighboring Georgia, national statistics from June showed.

The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed as “false” reports that Russians entitled to mobilize rushed to the exit.

“A lot of false information has emerged about this,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

But flights from Russia were almost fully booked for the coming week to cities in nearby former Soviet countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

And Putin’s call-up order not only provoked a flight march, there were also protests.

Police arrested more than 1,300 people in anti-mobilization demonstrations across Russia on Wednesday, according to a group monitoring the protests, OVD-Info.

There were fears on social media that Russia was sealing off its borders.

But Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Thursday Russian deserters could “receive international protection” in their country.

Finnish border authorities said Thursday they had seen a surge in traffic from Russia following Putin’s announcement. However, it stressed that the inflow was still at relatively low levels.

A line of cars about 150 meters long was seen at the Vaalimaa border crossing in Finland on Thursday afternoon.

“It was busy in the morning and evening, but now it’s starting to calm down,” Elias Laine, a border guard, told AFP.

A 23-year-old project manager from Moscow told AFP the mobilization had spurred his plans to leave Russia by October.

“I’m eligible for call-up,” he said.

“Some people have gone to the protests because they have nothing to lose. Others are investigating laws and speaking to lawyers to see if they can be drafted,” he said.

And back in Yerevan, another Russian who managed to get out said he was “shocked” by Putin’s mobilization announcement.

“Almost nobody supports the war,” he said. “It’s all so painful. I want this all to end soon.”

For security reasons, he declined to give his first and last name.