Potential Putin Successor Slams 'Betrayal' of Russians Who Fled Draft

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, lashed out at the hundreds of thousands of Russians who have fled President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization decree, calling it an "act of betrayal."

"In their homeland, which they abandoned, they still have parents, grandparents, relatives. Their act is a betrayal of the country," the politician wrote on his Telegram channel.

"In the future, many will regret this. The realization of the mistake upon returning to Russia will definitely come, but it will be too late," he added.

The war in Ukraine, which began on February 24, has sparked a new race to succeed Putin, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a U.S. think tank. Volodin is seen as a potential contender to succeed Putin.

His remarks come as at least 370,000 Russian citizens have fled the country since Putin's September 21 partial mobilization decree—more than the total number that defense officials said would be enlisted in the military.

Hundreds of thousands have fled across to neighboring countries including Georgia, Finland, Kazakhstan and Mongolia to avoid being conscripted.

Russia has denied an October 4 report by Forbes Russia that as many as 700,000 Russians had fled the country since Putin's announcement.

"I don't have exact figures, but of course they are far from what's being claimed there," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on October 4 that more than 200,000 of a target of 300,000 had been enlisted so far.

His update came as Kazakhstan's interior minister said that more than 200,000 Russians had come to the neighboring Central Asian country since the mobilization decree was announced.

Russia has seen a mass exodus of its citizens amid reports that those ineligible for military service, including students, the elderly, and those with medical conditions and injuries, have also been called up to fight in Ukraine.

On September 29, Volodin was cited by Gazeta.ru as saying that citizens who had been called up were not allowed to leave the country.

Volodin said on his Telegram channel that citizens who are registered with the military are prohibited from leaving their place of residence without the permission of a military commissariat.

"I draw your attention, according to Federal Law 31 'On mobilization training and mobilization in the Russian Federation,' citizens who are registered with the military, from the moment the mobilization is announced, are prohibited from leaving their place of residence without the permission of the military commissariats (Article 21)," the speaker wrote.

Volodin has also said that lists of citizens who leave the country are being made.

"We're compiling lists of everyone waiting in line to leave right now. You think they're leaving without anybody noticing who they are or why they left?" he was cited by Russia's state-run news agency Interfax as saying on September 29.

Russia's Federation Council has said that potential conscripts who left during the partial mobilization could return without legal consequences.

The Russian defense ministry has also said that mobilization does not impose restrictions on the movement of citizens.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.