Russian men take the long road out to escape mobilisation

FILE PHOTO: A Russian reservist bids farewell to relatives before his departure for a base in the course of partial mobilisation of troops, aimed to support the country's military campaign in Ukraine, in the town of Gatchina in Leningrad Region, Russia October 1, 2022. REUTERS/Igor Russak/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - As soon as Vladimir Putin announced his military call-up for the faltering war in Ukraine, Timofey and Andrey, two brothers from Moscow, tried to book flights out of the country. But by the time they had logged on, prices had already shot up so fast that they couldn't afford the last remaining tickets out.

Instead, they jumped in the car. Their father drove them through the night some 700 km (450 miles) to Minsk in neighbouring Belarus. There, they got a flight the next morning to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.