Train, Bus Tickets To Homel Sold Out In Russia

Russians are trying to hide from the "partial mobilization" in our country.

All the tickets to Homel on trains and buses from Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities are sold out for the next few days. Immediately after the "partial mobilization" was announced in Russia, there were some vacant tickets - those who did not want to fight against Ukraine sought to leave Russia for Georgia, Kazakhstan, Finland, the Baltic States, to fly to Turkey. As several Russian interlocutors explained to Flagshtok, the option of hiding in Belarus was the last to be considered, as it was obvious that the Belarusian regime would extradite Russians subject to conscription.

Now, however, after many countries have closed their borders to Russian citizens, and Russia itself has banned travel for men of conscription age, and there are no airline tickets left (except at exorbitant prices), routes to Belarus have become popular - as one of the last opportunities to evade being handed a summons.

According to the websites of Belarusian Railways and Russian Railways, there are no tickets for the next days, September 26 and 27, in trains to Homel from Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia. From the Russian capital, there are available tickets for the train on Wednesday, September 28, but the nearest one from St. Petersburg with places is on Thursday, September 29. Yandex also offers bus tickets from Bryansk to Homel only for Wednesday.

A few residents of Homel shared their observations. According to their impressions, there has been no increase in the flow of Russians in Homel in recent days.

"Even before there were a lot of cars with Russian number plates - people came here for shopping, to open the cards. There is no impression that their number has increased. But they don't come by car either - they understand that this way it will be easier to track them down. That's why they will come by trains and buses, and stay not in hotels, but rent flats without an official agreement," said Dzmitry, a Homel resident.