'Russia sealing borders to pen in draft-age men'

Meduza, an independent Russian news site now based in Latvia, reports that draft-age men will be forbidden to leave the country as of Wednesday. It quotes an unnamed source close to the Kremlin as saying that authorities plan to close the borders. It adds that men of conscription age would have to obtain permission from a military enlistment office before being allowed to leave.

On Friday Finland's president, Sauli Niinistö, and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy decided that Finland should further restrict the entry of Russians and the issuance of visas.

The Meduza report

Russian authorities plan to close the borders to men of mobilization age, a source close to the Russian presidential administration told Meduza.

A second source, also close to the administration, says this will occur after the “referendums” which are currently ongoing in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, and the occupied territories in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions Ukraine. The “referendums” will end on the evening of September 27.

The source noted that there will be something like “exit visas.” Men will need to receive permission from the military enlistment office to leave Russia.

Meduza reported earlier that borders would remain open until the end of the “referendums” on September 27.

Mobilization in Russia began on September 21. According to the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, members of the reserves who have appropriate military specializations and combat experience are subject to conscription. A government web portal says that privates and sergeants ages 35 and under, junior officers 50 and under, and senior officers 55 and under are subject to mobilization on a “priority basis.” Soldiers and sergeants remain in the reserves until age 50, and generals until age 70.

A source close to one of Russia’s federal ministries told Meduza that Russia plans to call up 1.2 million people for army service as part of the mobilization.

The Kremlin has sought to calm Russians, saying that no decisions have been made to shut the borders or impose martial law. But the backlash has already begun as even Putin allies were forced to acknowledge that the "partial mobilization" has set off waves of dissent and public anxiety.