Russians are continuing to leave the country or prepare to move abroad amid fears of a new military mobilization, tighter internet restrictions, economic problems and declining personal freedoms.
This summer, a 28-year-old digital content marketer packed his belongings and left Russia, leaving his family and friends behind and uncertain when he could return.
“It is very sad to leave Russia,” he said in the southern city of Krasnodar before heading toward the Georgian border. He cited Russia’s political situation and growing restrictions on internet access as reasons for leaving, saying he otherwise would not have stayed abroad for more than a few months.
He is among Russians who have recently left or are considering leaving as Ukraine continues drone attacks inside Russia and rumors persist of a new military mobilization after more than four years of war.
The attacks this summer triggered an unprecedented fuel shortage and badly affected Russia’s fast-growing e-commerce sector. Authorities have also used security concerns linked to the attacks to justify tighter internet restrictions.
The latest departures are far smaller than the mass exodus of 2022, when hundreds of thousands left after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, Kovcheg, a group that helps Russians moving abroad, said it received nearly eight times more inquiries last month than in May.
Anastasia Burakova, the group’s founder, said the rise did not mean large numbers were currently gathering at the borders. Instead, she said, more people were preparing to leave and exploring their options.
Fears of mobilization grow
Unlike 2022, there are currently no long lines at border crossings or major shortages of flights to visa-free destinations such as Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
Still, AP found numerous social media posts from across Russia in which people said they had decided to leave because of the war, economic uncertainty and shrinking freedoms.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials have claimed Russia is preparing another mobilization after Sunday's State Duma election. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected those claims.
Yan Slovitsky, an emergency assistance coordinator for Kovcheg, described a “panicked wave” of emigration since mid-July linked to fears of mobilization, fuel shortages and internet restrictions.
A Moscow-based diplomat also told AP there had been a noticeable increase in public anxiety this summer, along with reports of more Russians than usual appearing in neighboring Georgia and Armenia. The diplomat suggested some may be worried about another mobilization after the Duma election.
Alen Simonyan, secretary of Armenia's Security Council, told independent Russian television channel Dozhd last month that Armenia would not interfere with Russians moving there to avoid military service and would help them if necessary.
The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized his comments as “provocative.”
Russian lawmaker Viktor Sobolev, meanwhile, told RTVI that the country did not need people who left because of rumors, saying, “Let them leave.”
Some leave to avoid military service
The 28-year-old digital marketer, who describes himself as a pacifist, said this was his second attempt to leave Russia.
He first left in 2022 to avoid the mobilization of 300,000 troops announced by President Vladimir Putin, which shocked the country.
He said he is not technically eligible for military service during peacetime because of a hip condition, but decided it was safer to leave because he did not know what authorities might do.
Russian officials and rights groups gave conflicting views in 2022 over whether men in such circumstances could legally be mobilized. Some said they could be drafted, while others argued that martial law would have to be declared. Russia has not formally declared war on Ukraine, although the Kremlin imposed martial law in four Ukrainian regions it claimed to annex in 2022 but does not fully control.
The marketer returned to his hometown of Ulyanovsk in 2025 and worked remotely for foreign clients. But he said Russia's restrictions on thousands of websites, platforms and online services made his work increasingly difficult. He often had to change VPN servers to bypass the restrictions.
The possibility of another mobilization added to his concerns.
“You never know what will happen tomorrow,” he said from an apartment in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he has settled.
A 23-year-old woman from Moscow who left Russia last month also cited mobilization fears and concerns that her husband could be sent to the military.
She said her father narrowly avoided being drafted in 2022 by leaving the country. This year, her husband learned that he would no longer receive a military deferment after completing his master's degree.
“A person can figure anything out, but we were really afraid that (my husband) could end up in the army, because at this point it is a one-way ticket,” she said.
Ivan Nazarov, a recent university graduate who moved to Yerevan, Armenia, expressed similar concerns.
He said he had seen reports that Russian conscripts serving mandatory military duty, who are not supposed to be sent to Ukraine, were being pressured to sign contracts that could send them to the battlefield.
“For me, it is a question of survival,” Nazarov said at a Kovcheg gathering in Yerevan for new immigrants.
Shrinking freedoms also drive departures
Some Russians are leaving because of growing restrictions on political and personal freedoms.
Queer activist Daniil Neonov left Russia this summer after several detentions and a 10-day jail sentence for allegedly displaying extremist symbols. The case involved a photograph he posted online showing him wearing a T-shirt with a rainbow-colored design.
Russian authorities have designated what they call the “international LGBT movement” as extremist. People can face misdemeanor charges for possessing or displaying items featuring rainbow colors.
Neonov told AP in Yerevan that he feared authorities could bring a criminal case against him.
He said he also knows several people who left Russia after being detained while gathering outside the Supreme Court to support the opposition Yabloko party. The court had removed Yabloko from the parliamentary election ballot. It was the only party on the ballot that openly opposed the war.
“The police came to them and filed reports. I know several people who, after they were held in detention, also left. I mean, I'm not the only one,” Neonov said.
A 35-year-old Russian man told AP he was preparing to leave because he did not want to live in a country without free speech, amid a weakening economy and growing school propaganda that promotes war, normalizes violence and encourages isolation from the rest of the world.
The man, who spoke anonymously for security reasons, said he had considered leaving Russia for more than a decade but had continued to hope that “everything would work out.”
Now, he said, Russians “live in a huge digital jail,” where “you can't say anything, you can't do anything. You have absolutely no rights.”