Google searches for “how to break an arm at home” surged in Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of the population to fight in Ukraine.
The Russian president said the conscription would only apply to reservists, with the decree taking effect on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking after Putin’s address to the nation, said 300,000 men with “previous military experience” would now be called up.
After that, Google searches for “how to break your arm at home” exploded across Russia, sparking speculation that some Russians may be taking extreme measures to avoid fighting in Ukraine.
Google Trends ranks search terms from zero to 100 over a period of time, with zero representing the least interest and 100 the most.
According to Trends data for the past seven days, there were zero searches recorded for “how to break an arm at home” at 2 a.m. ET, when Putin began his speech. This does not necessarily mean that there was no research in this context, just that the amount was so low that the data could not be measured.
However, by 4 a.m. ET, this had risen to 38 out of a possible 100, showing a dramatic increase in searches for the phrase.