Protesters handed draft papers during detention in Russia

LONDON: Some Russians detained while protesting President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilisation have been handed draft papers while in custody, the OVD-Info rights group said on Thursday. Since Putin announced the first large-scale mobilization in Russia since World War II, flights to leave the country have sold out and protests have been swiftly broken up by police in cities across Russia.

At least 1,310 protesters had been detained, and some had been presented with summonses to enlist, according to OVD-Info. One protester in Moscow was told that they were facing a 10 year jail sentence for refusing to receive an enlistment order.

Under Russian law, police have the power to stop people who are thought to be evading mobilisation. The law provides for long, years-long prison terms and hefty fines for those who don't have legal grounds for exemption.

OVD-Info received information from 15 police departments that the detained men were handed a summons to the military registration and enlistment office.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denies reports that some protesters had been given draft papers, saying only: This is not against the law. The police could not be reached for immediate comment, nor could the draft office.

Journalists have been ordered to enlist. Russian TV channel Dozhd said that Artem Kriger, a journalist at the SOTA news site, was given a draft summons after being arrested while covering anti-mobilisation protests in Moscow.

Some Russian men rushed for the borders after Putin's mobilisation order, with traffic at frontier crossings with Finland and Georgia surging and prices for air tickets from Moscow rocketing.