Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a new speech on the war in Ukraine on Wednesday. And it has been one of the most powerful in recent months, as the Russian leader has decreed a partial mobilization of the country and has threatened to use a nuclear arsenal. "It's not a bluff," he has said.
Specifically, Putin has explained that only citizens who are currently in reserve will be subject to serving in the Russian armed forces and, later, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigú, has specified that 300,000 men will be called. Something that has already had its consequences.
After Vladimir Putin's announcement, the airlines have registered a great increase in the demand for flights to flee Russia. In this way, some tickets have sold out and those that are still available reach 9,200 euros for an economy class fare, and only one way.
Specifically, according to Google Trends, direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul (Turkey) and Yerevan (Armenia), destinations that allow Russians to enter without a visa, have been exhausted. Some routes with stops, including those from Moscow to Tbilisi, are also not available. By midday, direct flights to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan had also sold out.
Likewise, another fact that has not gone unnoticed by many users and the media is that after Vladimir Putin's intervention, Internet searches for questions such as "how to break an arm" or "how to get out of Russia".
One of the media to express it has been the Kyiv Post, the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, which has attached a photo on Twitter of how the question "how to break your arm" has greatly increased its searches after Vladimir Putin's announcement.
In parallel, Google Trends also shows that, apart from another related question that has also seen its searches increase considerably -"how to break a hand"-, Russian citizens have also frequently searched for "how to break an arm without pain" .
Also according to Google Trends, another question that has been asked repeatedly on the network has been "how to leave Russia". The first peak of this question was recorded yesterday night, before Putin's announcement. And as could be expected, it has become highly sought after again after the intervention of the Russian president. In this case, in the regions of Saint Petersburg and Moscow is where this information has been sought the most.
For its part, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has also been collecting some of the most active searches by Russian citizens and at around 4:30 p.m. it has determined that some of the most prominent questions were "how to avoid mobilization" and " how to stay alive.
Undoubtedly, some very significant questions that show the state of mind of many Russian citizens and that respond to a common goal: to avoid being one of the 300,000 reservists who will be called up.
