- Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to address the nation on Tuesday night.
- Google searches for “how to leave Russia” in Russia when going to his expected address.
- Putin was expected to declare “martial law” and “mobilization”, which he did on Wednesday morning.
Leading up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated address to the nation on Tuesday night, Google search The Russian phrase “how to leave Russia” spiked in the country.
The search peaked around 6pm Moscow time. According to Telegram Channel Mozhem Obyasnit, which flagged the first rise.
Putin was scheduled to give a speech Tuesday night, but it was canceled Wednesday morning. He then announced a partial military mobilization of 300,000 reservists to be drafted to fight in Ukraine.
Ahead of his expected speech on Tuesday, Russian lawmakers pass law Around “martial law” and “mobilization” that probably prompted Google searches Google only Second most spectacular The Russian search engine behind Yandex.
inside A tweet mentioning Spike in Google searches, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense tweeted, “Russians were given 12 hours of rest, so Google could answer all questions, including the average life expectancy of a Russian soldier in Ukraine.”
—Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 20, 2022
Russian-backed officials in occupied Ukrainian territory are also planning a “referendum” for the territory under Russian control, which More leadership people Believing that Putin is planning to escalate the war, Latvian news website Medusa said.
The same search spiked in the country of how to leave Russia At the end of February And in early March, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In addition to the spike in Google searches for how to leave the country, demand for air tickets out of the country has also increased. Plane tickets to places like Istanbul and Yerevan, located in Turkey and Armenia respectively, are sold out. Turkey and Armenia are the few countries that allow Russians to enter without a visa.
According to Mozem Obiasnit, Most searches Leaving Russia was “of interest to residents of the Khabarovsk Territory,” which borders China.
