Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
In Tbilisi, Yerevan and Belgrade, the phones at Russian-speaking rental agencies have started ringing again.
Four years after the mobilization exodus from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a second wave is filling the same apartments. This time, the pattern can be read directly off rent slips in the cities Russians fled to in 2022.
Rental agencies in Georgia, Serbia and Armenia are all reporting a sharp jump in inquiries and prices since late summer, according to reporting by the exile-run Russian outlet Meduza published Thursday.
In Tbilisi, an agent named Anna, who has worked in the market for nine years, said she now fields up to five inquiries an hour from Russians, a pace not seen since the first mobilization wave in the fall of 2022.
The surge lines up with a summer of intensifying speculation about a fresh Russian mobilization after the September State Duma elections, rumors Putin dismissed as “complete nonsense” and “an information attack on Russia” in early September.
Tbilisi rents up 10-25 percent since spring
In the central Isani and Saburtalo districts of Georgia’s capital, apartments that cost around $550 a month at the start of 2026 now go for $600 to $700, Meduza reported, and Anna expects $900 to $1,100 within months if the pace holds.
A second agent, Irina, told the outlet that good listings vanish within a day or two.
Belgrade lifts 20-30 percent, Novi Sad still below 2022 peak
In Serbia, the pattern splits by city. Belgrade rents have climbed 20-30 percent since late July, with center-city apartments now running roughly 600-1,000 euros a month.
Novi Sad remains cheaper at 400-700 euros, still below its 2022 peak of 800-1,000 euros.
A Belgrade agent named Pyotr told Meduza he had not seen comparable demand since the first exodus.
Yerevan back at 2022 prices
Armenia is seeing the steepest jump. Rents in central Yerevan are up 30-50 percent from the start of the year, with two-room apartments that went for about $700 in the spring now going for $1,000, according to Meduza’s reporting. Apartments on the outskirts of the Armenian capital run $700 to $800.
The exception is Kazakhstan. Almaty agents told Meduza the anticipated wave never materialized, which they attribute to Astana’s tightened migration rules since the 2022 influx.
Search traffic and passport lines back up
The housing data tracks with other indicators. Russian citizens spent July running the most searches since the start of the full-scale war on visa-free destinations and passport-processing timelines, EU Observer reported, citing the independent channel Mozhem Obyasnit. Moscow residents also complained of jammed passport-office appointments.
Analysts are split on whether a formal draft is coming. Russian historian Sergei Lukashevsky told The Insider a limited mobilization after the September vote is “almost inevitable.” Economist Janis Kluge, tracking recruitment through budget data, put monthly contract recruitment at 20,000-30,000 against roughly 9,000 monthly battlefield deaths, suggesting no immediate manpower shortfall that would force a draft.
For the tenants moving in this month, that debate is beside the point. In Yerevan, one of Meduza’s agents said inquiries are now running about twice the level seen through the winter and spring.
