As Vladimir Putin announced the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine, many are expected to try and dodge the draft.
While civilians look for a way out, demand for one-way flights out of the country has soared.
Google data reports a flight to South Africa would for a family of three cost an astronomical £44,000 and flights to Asia are selling out, with Istanbul flights sold out.
The Kremlin has declined to comment on border closures amid the mobilisation - its first since World War 2.
It should be noted that flights out of Russia were already expensive as the number of flights fell dramatically following the February invasion following heavy sanctions and international booking firms dropping Russia from their websites.
Data from Aviasales show that flights to Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia are sold out. Both of these destinations do not require Russians to have visas to enter.
Flights to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan have also stopped showing. Google searches for "how to leave Russia", meanwhile, have also risen.
Russia has already used different methods to try and bolster its forces, using convicted thieves, rapists and murderers from prisons the join the ranks.
Putin's forces are on the back foot in Ukraine, which is mounting a counteroffensive into Russian-held territory.
The Kremlin was forced to update its official for the first time since March and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,397 have been killed.
This figure is unlikely to be the true number and Ukraine's claims, though likely inflated, has the number of Russian dead in the war at over 55,000.
In August, the Pentagon estimated as many as 80,000 casualties, though previously said they were working on the actual death toll being around three times less than the total casualties.
CIA Director William Burns told the Aspen Security Forum on July 20 in July: "It’s always a range. And, you know, there’s no perfect number.
"I think the latest estimates from the US intelligence community would be, you know, something in the vicinity of 15,000 killed and maybe three times that wounded, so a quite significant set of losses."
Suffering heavy losses, Putin has announced the mobilisation along with a frightening threat of nuclear weapons.
The Kremlin leader said: "If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to defend Russia and our people, we will use all means we have. This is not a bluff."
"The territorial integrity of our motherland, our independence and freedom will be secured, I repeat, with all the means we have. Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know."
