Almost all available flights from Russia to foreign destinations were sold out on Wednesday after Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization, The Moscow Times reported. Flight prices have also risen sharply in the past 24 hours, with a ticket from Moscow to Dubai costing 300,000 rubles, or $5,000.

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Flights from Moscow to the capitals of Georgia, Turkey and Armenia for Wednesday, September 21, were sold out shortly after Vladimir Putin’s announcement, Russian travel planning site aviasales.ru reported, as cited by The Moscow Times.

Also, tickets to Istanbul were no longer found or they were very expensive. For example, according to some simulations made yesterday on ticketing sites, on September 24 the price of a ticket was approximately 1,600 euros, that is, two to three times higher than usual. The same situation was with Turkish Airlines.

FlyDubai had no flights to Dubai yesterday. The first tickets for Moscow-Dubai flights started on September 26 and 27 and cost $3,300 one-way (usually a maximum of $1,000 round-trip).

By noon Moscow time, direct flights from the Russian capital to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan stopped appearing on the website.

Sky News also reports that plane ticket prices have skyrocketed since Vladimir Putin’s announcement, with some routes completely sold out. Turkish Airlines flights from Moscow to cities such as Istanbul and Belgrade are among those affected.

On Tuesday evening, defense analyst Konrad Muzyka shared a screenshot showing that Wednesday’s ticket cost 80,000 roubles, just under £1,200.

By 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, after Putin’s speech, today’s scheduled flights were sold out.

Also, on the website of Turkish Airlines, there were no more flights for Thursday and Friday from Moscow.

The Moscow-Dubai ticket ended up costing 5,000 dollars

And Reuters reports that return flights from Russia sold out shortly after the Russian president’s announcement, sparking panic and fears that men eligible for military service will no longer be allowed to leave the country.

Also, there are no more tickets for some connecting flights, for example through Tbilisi, and a ticket to Dubai cost 300,000 rubles ($5,000), which is five times higher than the average monthly salary in Russia.

Le Monde writes that amid calls for military mobilization, Russian airlines will be ordered to stop selling tickets to men aged 18 to 65, with the exception of those who have permission from the Ministry of Defense.

However, “Aeroflot” and its subsidiary companies “Russia” and “Pobeda” announced that they were working as usual and did not introduce any restrictions on the sale of tickets, according to the press release of the airline, which was quoted by TASS.

What does partial mobilization mean in Russia

Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization on Wednesday and threatened the West that he would not hesitate to respond to the “nuclear blackmail” practiced by the leaders of major NATO powers.

• In his televised address to the nation, Putin stated that “only citizens currently in reserve, primarily those who have served in the armed forces and have certain military specialties, are subject to conscription for partial mobilization.”
• Defense Minister Serhiy Shoigu, for his part, said that the mobilization will be aimed primarily at those with combat experience, and that the recruitment of students is excluded “under any circumstances.”

• According to him, mobilization will not apply to conscripts who will be enrolled from October 1.

• Shoigu also stated that there are no plans to send recruits to the operation zone in Ukraine and “they will continue their service on the territory of Russia.”