Vladimir Putin is fighting to keep control of Russia as thousands of people have fled since his invasion of Ukraine, due to fears he will close the borders, leaving them unable to escape his tyranny.

Since the war began last week (February 24), the Kremlin has clamped down on anti-war sentiment and arrested hundreds of protestors.

And chillingly today (March 4), Russia's parliament passed a law imposing a jail time of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally "fake" news about the military, reports Reuters.

Putin's authoritarian definition of fake news includes referring to the Ukrainian conflict as an "invasion" as Russian officials instead call it a "special military operation."

Justifying their actions, the lower house of parliament, known as the Duma in Russian, said in a statement: "If the fakes lead to serious consequences then imprisonment of up to 15 years threatens."

The amendments, which could not be viewed by Reuters on the Duma website, appear to give the Russian state much stronger powers to crackdown.

Aside from the complete lack of freedom Putin seems determined to foist upon his people, many others have fled for fear of being called up to the armed forces.

The Mirror reports that many fighting aged men have already fled the country as they fear Putin will start conscripting those not already fighting.

However, a former Ukrainian official has claimed that Putin first intends to conscript all those who dared criticize his war in the first place.

Speaking to Sky News, Cormac Smith, the former special advisor to foreign minister of Ukraine claimed that Russian peace protesters had been earmarked for service.

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  Horror Ukraine war destruction shown in star Google Maps before and after images

He said: "I was told late last night by a government source there's another draft law which is going to be pushed through the Duma with great haste.

"The first to be drafted will be the peace protesters. This just shows you the absolute hatred and murderous that is at the heart of this man (Putin) and the heart of his regime and in particular the hatred and spite they have towards Ukraine."

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