Escaping the “partial mobilization” decreed by Vladimir Putin is the emergency of the moment for many Russian men, who, alone or with their families, with luggage or without, are arriving by the thousands these days at Turkish airports, l one of the few foreign destinations, along with Serbia, Georgia and Armenia, that remain open to Russian travellers, without visa requirements.
At Istanbul Airport on the European side of the Bosphorus on Friday, September 23, passengers on Turkish Airlines flight 414 from Moscow look tense. Faces are closed, tongues do not loosen easily. “Tourism”replies laconically a young man with a cap when asked if his arrival in Turkey is linked to the announcement of the mobilization. “I had taken my ticket before the announcement, I suspected that it was coming”, concedes another passenger. Behind him, a man and his teenage son refuse to exchange a single word. “We don’t care about your questions…”
In the line of taxis, a man and a woman, in their thirties, tap feverishly on their mobile. “My brother has to jump on a plane, how many times do I have to alert him! Exit will soon no longer be possible, they will close the borders”, exclaims the man in a Russian tinged with emotion. Since Putin’s speech announcing the mobilization on Wednesday, Istanbul has become the preferred exit door for thousands of Russians, especially men, caught up in a war they did not want to see.
Flights taken over
Compared to those of their compatriots who arrived in February or March, that is to say at the very beginning of the Russian invasion, who were for the most part declared opponents of the Putin regime, the newcomers are more timid, much less politicized. Materially, they are better off. At the moment, you have to spend a small fortune, the equivalent in rubles of 4,000 to 9,000 dollars to buy a one-way ticket from Moscow to Istanbul. The flights are taken by storm, the planes are full; finding a seat before the end of September seems like an impossible bet.
According to its press service, the national company Turkish Airlines does not plan to add new flights to its already well-stocked roster, Ankara not applying Western sanctions against Moscow. Only serving the Russian Federation, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and Anadolu Jet provide between 85 and 120 flights per day. The Moscow-Istanbul line is the best served, with 53 daily flights offered by all the companies.
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