Hundreds in Russia arrested for protesting Putin's reserve call-up as others rush to flee country

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists Wednesday to bolster his forces in Ukraine, a deeply unpopular move that sparked rare protests across the country and led to almost 1,200 arrests.

The risky order follows humiliating setbacks for Putin's troops nearly seven months after they invaded Ukraine. The first such call-up in Russia since the Second World War heightened tensions with the Western backers of Ukraine, who derided it as an act of weakness and desperation.

In his 14-minute nationally televised address, Putin also warned the West that he isn't bluffing over using everything at his disposal to protect Russia — an apparent reference to his nuclear arsenal. He has previously told the West not to back Russia against the wall and has rebuked NATO countries for supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Confronted with steep battlefield losses, expanding front lines and a conflict that has raged longer than expected, the Kremlin has struggled to replenish its troops in Ukraine; there have even been reports of widespread recruitment in prisons.

The total number of reservists to be called up could be as high as 300,000, officials said. However, Putin's decree authorizing the partial mobilization, which took effect immediately, offered few details, raising suspicions that the draft could be broadened at any moment. 

Despite Russia's harsh laws against criticizing the military and the war, protesters outraged by the mobilization overcame their fear of arrest to stage protests in cities across the country. Nearly 1,200 Russians were arrested in anti-war demonstrations in cities including Moscow and St. Petersburg, according to the independent Russian human rights group OVD-Info.

An Associated Press crew in Moscow witnessed at least a dozen arrests in the first 15 minutes of a protest in the capital, with police in heavy body armour tackling demonstrators in front of shops, hauling some away as they chanted, "No to war!"

"I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of anything. The most valuable thing that they can take from us is the life of our children. I won't give them life of my child," said one Muscovite who declined to give her name.

Asked whether protesting would help, she said: "It won't help, but it's my civic duty to express my stance. No to war!"

In Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, police hauled onto buses some of the 40 protesters who were detained at an anti-war rally. One woman in a wheelchair shouted, referring to the Russian president: "Goddamn bald-headed nut job. He's going to drop a bomb on us, and we're all still protecting him. I've said enough."

The Vesna opposition movement called for protests, saying: "Thousands of Russian men — our fathers, brothers and husbands — will be thrown into the meat grinder of the war. What will they be dying for? What will mothers and children be crying for?"

The Moscow prosecutor's office warned that organizing or participating in protests could lead to up to 15 years in prison. Authorities have issued similar warnings ahead of other protests. Wednesday's were the first nationwide anti-war protests since the fighting began in late February.

Other Russians responded by trying to leave the country and flights out quickly became booked, apparently driven by fears that Russia's borders could soon close or of a broader call-up that might send many Russian men of fighting age to the war's front lines.

Tickets for the Moscow-Belgrade flights operated by Air Serbia, the only European carrier besides Turkish Airlines to maintain flights to Russia despite a European Union flight embargo, sold out for the next several days. The price for flights from Moscow to Istanbul or Dubai increased within minutes before jumping again, reaching as high as 9,200 euros ($12,200 Cdn) for a one-way economy class fare.