‘We’re scared, we want to run’: the Russian men fleeing conscription

A man waits in a queue to have his passport checked at the Vaalimaa border checkpoint in Virolahti, Finland. Photograph: Jussi Nukari/Rex/Shutterstock

Since Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s first mobilisation since the second world war last Wednesday, povestka, or draft papers, have been delivered to people across the country.

As husbands, brothers and sons bade emotional farewells to families before they left to fight in Ukraine, others were scrambling to find a way to leave Russia, spurred by reports that some conscripts were being sent directly to the frontlines without training.