Russia restricts military reservists from leaving country amid mobilization rumors
Photo: Russian serviceman's military ID card (Getty Images)
Russia has recorded its first case of a military reservist being prevented from leaving the country. The restriction was imposed by a military enlistment office, The Moscow Times reports.
Russia blocks military reservists from leaving the country
According to human rights activists, a 24-year-old resident of the Rostov region attempted to fly abroad from Krasnodar on September 2. In 2024, he completed compulsory military service and is currently in the reserves.
However, he was detained for additional checks during passport control. He was then handed an official notice temporarily restricting his right to leave Russia.
It turned out that the decision had been made by the military enlistment office where the reservist was registered. In November 2025, he had updated his military registration documents there, and a mobilization order was placed in his records.
At the same time, the electronic registry showed that the summons had the status "Citizen did not appear." Based on this, the military enlistment office decided to restrict his right to leave the country.
Notably, before his trip, the reservist did not see any notice of the travel ban in the registry and learned about it only at the border.
Blocking travel abroad
Since March, following the full launch of the electronic summons registry, Russians have begun reporting cases of being blocked from leaving the country.
According to the human rights group Idite Lesom, 73 conscripts contacted the organization between August 18 and 31 after attempting to cross the border:
- 50 were able to leave,
- 23 were not.
In some cases, the travel ban appeared directly during border checks.
Attempts to leave through Belarus were not always successful either: of the 11 conscripts who contacted the project, four managed to cross the border, while seven were unable to do so.
The travel restrictions are being introduced amid rumors of a new mobilization following the September elections to the State Duma.
RBC-Ukraine previously reported that Russian conscripts are increasingly facing problems when trying to leave the country. In some cases, they learn about the restrictions only while going through border control.
In addition, forced detentions and coercion to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry have become commonplace in Russia.
