Russian authorities acknowledged Saturday a “significant” influx of cars into Georgia amid a mobilization ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, in which one border post registered an estimated 2,300 vehicles, AFP and news.com reported.

“There is a significant accumulation of private vehicles, about 2,300 in total, which have arrived in the Republic of North Ossetia and are waiting in line to pass through the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs of this Russian republic, located on the border with Georgia, reports.

Many Russians decided to leave Russia, fearing that they would be sent to war in Ukraine, and go to neighboring Georgia, which does not require a visa to enter the territory of Georgia.

At the Verkhniy Lars border post on Saturday, there was a line of cars of more than ten kilometers to cross the border, reports the French channel BFMTV.

The passage of cars greatly slows down the control of the Russian side of the border.

Men of conscription age who wish to cross the border with Georgia must prove that they were not drafted to participate in the Russian war in Ukraine.

Hundreds of people, forced to wait 24 hours to cross the border, decided to do so by bicycle or tricycle.

The fugitives are mostly men, most of them alone, but also with families.

They don’t seem to have been preparing for deportation for long, but left in a hurry after Vladimir Putin’s statements on Wednesday.

The Russians from the Verkhniy Lars border post took a few things with them for a few days, some only a backpack. Few people know where they are running, to which city. It is important for them not to be mobilized.

Georgia is not the only country where Russians have taken refuge.

Armenia and Turkey, which also do not require visas, are the most important destinations.

As of Wednesday, all plane tickets from Moscow to Istanbul or Yerevan were sold out.

Finland, a member state of the European Union (EU), which shares a border with Russia, has announced that it will sharply reduce the entry of Russian citizens into the territory of Finland.

Germany, on the contrary, announced its readiness to accept Russian defectors.

The Kremlin assures that this phenomenon of escape from Russia is greatly exaggerated by the Western media.