Russians blocked from fleeing country by border guards

Russian border guards on Monday started blocking military-aged men from leaving the country as tens of thousands joined long queues to flee.

The Kremlin insisted it had no plans to close the border despite reports in local media that an order could follow the ongoing sham referendums in occupied Ukraine.

Around 300,000 men have reportedly fled the country already, the same number as Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, said would be called up from military reservists to fight in Ukraine.

Satellite images released by Maxar showed a traffic jam stretching 16 kilometres from the border with Georgia.

Faced with mounting reports of men with no military background or with underlying conditions drafted, the Kremlin Monday had to admit “mistakes” in the sweeping mobilisation.

Rare Kremlin apology

“Those cases are being rectified,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman said, in a rare public apology. “We hope all the mistakes will be corrected.

The first reports of Russian men turned away from the border emerged on Monday evening as rights activists posted on social media photos of the papers that barred travellers from leaving due to the mobilisation drive.

In Moscow, Russian officials had lists of men due to be drafted that they prevented from boarding flights out of the country, according to The Bell, a Russian website.

At the Russia-Kyrgyzstan border, officials said they were sending men subject to enlistment to register with military officials before allowing them to cross, according to state-run Tass news agency.

The FSB, Russia's security service, meanwhile sent camouflaged men to the border with Georgia, in what they said was a move to prevent huge crowds swarming across.

Russians’ desperate attempts to flee come amid reports that some of the men called up in recent days were not offered any significant military training and had already been sent to the front.

There were also concerns that Russia’s “referendums” to annex parts of eastern and southern Ukraine would push the Kremlin to officially announce martial law and seal the border.

The speculation has spurred tens of thousands of men to try to cross out of Russia before Tuesday evening when “voting” in Russia-occupied Ukraine is expected to wrap up.

Human rights lawyers said Monday they were getting reports that border guards were beginning to block men from leaving the country.

Pavel Chikov, a prominent human rights lawyer, published a border guard's order, barring one man from crossing into Georgia.

In Kazakhstan, authorities reported three times as many daily border crossings as normal, and businesses started offering shelter to thousands of Russian men who descended on small border towns in recent days, taking up all hotel rooms and sending property prices through the roof.

At Upper Lars in the Caucasus, at least 5,000 cars were lining up on Monday waiting to cross from Russia into Georgia, which has become one of the most popular routes of escape, according to Russian officials.

Authorities on the Georgian side of the border said about 115,000 people and 37,000 cars crossed from Russia last week.

The waiting time to clear border control has increased to over 48 hours, according to activists monitoring the border.

Struggling to cope with the snarling traffic jam of cars, Georgian border guards at Upper Lars allowed pedestrians to cross the border as hundreds appeared to have ditched their cars and cabs and headed for the crossing.

Dozens of young men were seen in one social media video walking on the side of parked cars on the road, rolling their suitcases, trekking with one backpack or cycling in the backdrop of the towering Caucasus mountains.

Earlier on Monday, Sergei Tskekov, a lawmaker from Crimea, became the first official voice to urge for the exit ban, saying that all men of the fighting edge should be barred from leaving the country.

Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russia's election commission, said there was no need to fret about the exodus. “Let the rats who are running run,” she said. “The ship will be ours, it's gaining strength and clearly moving towards its target.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Monday insisted that a partial mobilisation “does not require” any restrictions on people’s movements. It said no restrictions are “envisioned.”