The spike in demand for flights out of the country, and in traffic at the Finnish border, followed Putin’s speech on Wednesday morning, an intervention which threatened to escalate his faltering invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said Finland is closely monitoring the situation in Russia following the Kremlin’s announcement of “partial mobilization.” Traffic on Thursday morning also remained busy, he said. He added that this traffic is “lower than normal weekend,” but was considerably higher than the 3,133 Russians who arrived via the border last Wednesday. The border guard’s head of international affairs, Matti Pitkaniitty, said in a tweet that 4,824 Russians arrived in Finland via the country’s eastern border on Wednesday evening. Traffic on Finland’s eastern border with Russia intensified overnight on Thursday, a Finnish border guard official said in a Tweet. Those attempting to flee the country by land also increased. There are no restrictions on ticket sales.” Russian state carrier Aeroflot’s website showed that all economy class tickets to Armenia are sold out until September 28.Īeroflot said in a statement: “Due to inquiries from passengers and the media, we would like to inform you that Aeroflot Group airlines are operating as usual. Before President Putin’s mobilization announcement, the tickets cost about $350. Petersburg.Īccording to Aviasales ticket aggregator, one-way tickets on Friday out of Moscow to Istanbul are starting at $2,715 per ticket. The number had quadrupled in 24 hours with most searches coming from Moscow and St. Google Trends data also showed a sharp rise in Russians searching for “Aviasales” – a leading Russian flight sales engine. Flight sales websites in Russia indicate that all direct flights to countries that do not require Russian visas are sold out through Friday at least.ĭirect flights from Moscow to Istanbul, Yerevan in Armenia and Baku in Azerbaijan are among those that are full, according to ticket aggregator websites.Īccording to Google Trends, the term “leaving Russia” saw a sharp spike in searches among Russians over the past 24 hours. Travel agency websites in Russia showed a dramatic increase on Wednesday in the demand for flights to destinations where Russians are not required to have a visa. The number of Russians attempting to leave the country via air or land has risen sharply following President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of the “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens to bolster his depleted forces in Ukraine.
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