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Since President Putin declared a partial mobilisation of
reservists on Wednesday, flights for the coming days from Russia
to nearby countries including Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and
Serbia have sold out entirely. Lengthy tailbacks were reported
at Russia's borders with Georgia, Finland, Kazakhstan and
Mongolia.
In a call with reporters, Peskov said: "The information about
the hype at airports and so on is very much exaggerated ...
There is a lot of fake information about this. We need to be
very careful about this so as not to become a victim of false
information on this matter."
Peskov declined to deny Russian media reports that some anti-mobilisation
protesters detained on Wednesday night had been given draft
papers, saying: "This is not against the law."
The OVD-Info rights group reported that over 1,300 people in 38
cities had been detained on Wednesday for protesting against the
mobilisation decree.
The Russian news site Mediazona reported that at least three men
detained in Moscow had been given mobilisation summons while at
police stations.
Asked whether the campaign in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a
"special military operation", was still going to plan despite
the mobilisation, Peskov said:
"The special operation began to fulfil goals in Ukraine. Now we
are de facto confronted by the NATO bloc with all their
logistical capabilities. This has led to this necessary step."
However, he denied that the conflict in Ukraine could be termed
a war, insisting on the description that the Kremlin has used
since ordering troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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