World / Russia may soon close borders for men of fighting demand for seats on private planes boomed

Russia | It has been more than seven months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a partial deployment of 300,000 reserve troops. Putin has planned a partial deployment of 300,000 'reservist' (reserve soldiers). Frightened by Putin's latest plan, Russian citizens want to leave the country as soon as possible. It is being said that after Putin's announcement, Russia will close its borders to people who can fight wars. In view of this people are desperate to leave the country. For this they are spending arbitrary money to book seats in private planes.

Amid the chaos, wealthy Russian citizens are paying exorbitant prices for seats on private planes to reach Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. These countries allow visa-free entry to Russians. Seats in private planes cost between £20,000 (over Rs 17 lakh) and £25,000 (Rs 21 lakh 92 thousand). As The Guardian reports, the cost to rent an eight-seat jet ranges from £80,000 to £140,000, which is several times more expensive than the normal cost.

Yevgeny Bykov, director of broker jet company Your Charter, said, "The situation at the moment is absolutely terrifying. We were getting 50 requests a day, now it's almost 5,000." Beekov said his firm had tried to reduce prices and hire larger commercial planes to meet demand, but still couldn't find enough seats for everyone. He said the cheapest seat on a chartered commercial plane was £3,000. Meanwhile, another private jet firm Flyway said the demand for one-way flights to Armenia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Dubai has increased 50 times.

The company's head Eduard Simonov said that it has become difficult to rent jets. The availability of Eve planes has been severely affected by EU and UK sanctions. “All European private jet firms have left the market. Now demand is higher than supply and prices are skyrocketing compared to six months ago.” The true number of people leaving Russia has increased significantly since Putin announced "partial mobilization" last Wednesday.

Earlier, in a televised address to the country, Putin warned Western countries that Russia would do everything possible to defend its region and that it was not "blatant rhetoric". The President said that he had signed the order and that the process would begin immediately. A reservist is a person who is a member of a 'military reserve force'. It is a common citizen who is given military training and can be posted anywhere if needed. It does not provide services during peace time. In September, the Ukrainian army recaptured a large number of areas occupied by Russian troops.