As Putin delays his national address, “How to Leave Russia” is the top Google trend.
Prior to President Vladimir Putin’s now-cancelled national address, there was an increase in the number of Russians looking up how to leave the country on Google, fueling rumors that Moscow would step up its military campaign in Ukraine.
According to the Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram channel, the query “how to leave Russia” saw a spike in Google searches on Tuesday before Putin’s eagerly anticipated speech.
Putin’s unusual national address was abruptly postponed to Wednesday because the Kremlin has indicated it will respond to defeats in Ukraine with more aggressive strategies that could have an impact on regular Russians.
The Russian dissident website Mozhem Obyasnit, whose name translates to “We Can Explain,” discovered that Google searches for “how to leave the country” peaked at 6 p.m.
After experiencing a significant rise earlier on Tuesday, Moscow time.
According to the channel, residents of the Khabarovsk Territory, which is bordered by China in Russia’s far east, were especially eager to leave.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday, “The russians were given 12 hours of rest so Google could answer all the questions, including the question of what is the average life expectancy of a russian soldier in Ukraine.”
Following Ukraine’s successful counterattack, which retook large portions of the country’s northeast that had been under Russian occupation and advanced in the south near the city of Kherson, Putin is getting ready to address the nation.
Following unexpectedly fierce resistance in Ukraine, Russia’s military has continued to experience issues with troop losses and low morale.
Concerns about reduced energy exports and the potential for a large-scale mobilization to change the course of events in Ukraine caused the Russian stock exchange to collapse on Tuesday.
Tuesday saw the advancement of legislation in Russia that increases the penalties for soldiers who desert and adds “mobilization, martial law, and wartime” to the country’s criminal code.
In its post, Mozhem Obyasnit noted that Google searches for deferments from military service increased in Russia as well.
According to the state-run TASS news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated last week that a mobilization is not being considered.
However, TASS reported that legislative leader Valentina Matviyenko dodged a question regarding a mobilization on Tuesday.
Putin did as anticipated.
Here is a succinct summary.