The figures, which count all departures regardless of purpose, were also reported by TV Rain and The Moscow Times. Each of the three destinations set a quarterly high for the entire observation period.
Georgia drew 660,300 people, exceeding the previous record set a year earlier by 43,300. That is 43% more than in the third quarter of 2022, when Russia announced mobilization and 461,200 people left for Georgia.
Armenia received 402,300 Russians, surpassing the prior maximum of 344,700 recorded in the third quarter of 2025.
Serbia saw 64,800 departures over the three months, roughly 14,000 more than in the same period a year earlier. The previous record there was 53,200 in the third quarter of 2024.
The border service data does not show how long people stayed abroad or how many emigrated.
The Moscow Times links the increase to rumors of a new mobilization wave. In July, Yandex searches on how to leave the country reached their highest level since the start of 2023, with Russians looking for visa-free relocation options. According to the Relocat project, citizens submitted nearly twice as many emigration queries as before and wanted to leave urgently, by September or October.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in late July that a second mobilization wave was coming, asserting that the Kremlin plans to draft another 300,000 to 500,000 people for the war. Sources close to the Kremlin told Verstka that after the September State Duma elections the authorities could introduce martial law and carry out mobilization. Some European officials have considered the same possibility, The Moscow Times writes.