Cycling towards the northern lights or sailing to South Korea: Russians flee in creative ways to avoid conscription | Abroad

Just hours after Putin announced the mobilization, tickets from Moscow to Istanbul, Yerevan, Tashkent and Baku were completely sold out. So Alexei, 25, decided to buy a one-way ticket from Moscow to Tehran, Iran, a country that is in the midst of historic anti-government protests.

“When I told my family about Tehran, they were very concerned,” Alexei said. “They asked if Iran was really safer than staying in Russia.” After spending the afternoon in Iran, Alexei boarded a plane to Dubai, where he has lived ever since.

On September 27, eight Russian sailors left the eastern city of Vladivostok and sailed for South Korea, the BBC’s Russian service reported. The men reportedly planned the trip for later this year, but decided to leave immediately after the mobilization was announced. The journey through the Sea of ​​Japan took about five days, as the boat had to circumnavigate North Korean territorial waters.

In other parts of the country, private shipping companies also offered trips from ports in the southern Black Sea to Turkey. A place on a single trip with a sailboat from Russia to Turkey cost 1,600 euros.

Murmansk, located 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, attracts visitors every winter hoping to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. For Ilya (27) the city was the starting point of a 150-mile flight by bike to the Norwegian border town of Kirkesen.

The day after Putin announced the mobilization, Ilya bought a second-hand bicycle from a friend in Moscow and took a sleeper train to Murmansk. From there his journey started. “Luckily I was training for a triathlon just before the war started. I didn’t think it would be so handy,” said Ilja. In Kirkesen, usually a small, sleepy Norwegian town, hotels were sold out, Ilya said, as dozens of Russians waited at the city’s small airport to board a plane to the capital Oslo.