Mobilization: Russians massively cancel tours abroad, fearing a ban on departure

According to Kommersant , the situation of uncertainty in which millions of Russians find themselves in connection with the announcement of mobilization has hit the tourism industry. Among the clients of travel agencies who planned in advance the autumn vacation at sea, the number of travel refusals has increased dramatically. Citizens are afraid that the border guards will not let them go abroad, and the vouchers will be completely lost.

Officially, the country's authorities have not yet limited the constitutional right of citizens to move around the country and have not imposed a ban on traveling abroad. However, already on September 22, it became known that such restrictions were introduced at the regional level. In particular, the authorities of Tatarstan and the Kursk region have already announced a ban on leaving the territory of the regions without the permission of the military commissar.

Citizens who flew to Turkey on the night of September 22 on pre-purchased vouchers told reporters that, despite the absence of panic at the airport, Sheremetyevo employees were more attentive than usual: the number of inspectors at hand luggage checkpoints doubled, and passengers were not checked. selective, but total, with questions about the purpose of the trip and the availability of money.

Tour operators note that the number of trip cancellations tripled on September 21, but at the same time, the number of requests for package tours from citizens who want to urgently leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the face of a sharp rise in air ticket prices increased by a third. In some cases, buying a last-minute package tour turns out to be even cheaper than just a one-way plane ticket: the cost of flights to some popular visa-free destinations has soared to 60-200 thousand rubles a day, and demand for them has risen by 35%.

“Some citizens call and ask where they can fly abroad in the near future. On average, we see an increase of 30-40%, and the cancellation request has grown three times, ”the Alliance of Travel Agencies quotes the publication.

Lawyers note that, according to the law, before receiving a summons or a mobilization order , citizens have the right to move.

At the same time, the geography of destinations where you can go is narrowing: Finland is preparing to ban the entry of Russians, and Latvia intends to refuse even humanitarian visas to Russians seeking to escape from mobilization .

The head of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkevics, wrote in his account:

“For security reasons, Latvia will not issue humanitarian or other types of visas to those Russian citizens who evade mobilization, and will not change the border crossing restrictions for Russian citizens with Schengen visas introduced since September 19.”

Recall that Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Estonia announced a few weeks ago that they no longer accept documents for tourist visas from Russian citizens.