Moscow began its mandatory troop call-up on Thursday to try to bolster a stumbling war effort in Ukraine, with authorities saying thousands had volunteered even as Russian men fled the country to avoid being forced to fight.
In several videos on Twitter women and children can be seen crying as they farewell their husbands, fathers and brothers, fearful they may never see them alive again.
At airports, a mass exodus is forming with Russian families fleeing to neighbouring countries that allow Russians visa-free entry, with the majority of flights fully booked.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denies Russians are abandoning their country.
The troop call-up has also resulted in protests in 37 Russian cities with more than 1,300 arrested according to the independent Russian human rights group OVD-Info.
In St Petersburg, police in riot gear packed male and female protestors into buses and off to jail.
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