Russian police arrested more than 100 people at the weekend in the southern region of Dagestan at a protest against Moscow's troop mobilisation, NGO OVD-Info said.
It comes as a man attempted to set himself on fire at a bus station in the city of Ryazan, about 185km, southeast of Moscow, shouting that he did not want to fight in Ukraine.
He was taken away in an ambulance.
Elsewhere, a gunman was detained after opening fire at a military draft office in Russia's Irkutsk region, the local governor said today.
The gunman, who in a video published on social media is seen identifying himself to police officers as 25-year-old Ruslan Zinin, opened fire at a draft office in the Siberian town of Ust-Ilimsk.
A number of draft offices have been attacked since Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilisation last Wednesday to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine.
Dagestan - a poor, Muslim-majority republic in the North Caucasus - has seen more men killed in the Kremlin's war against Ukraine than any other part of Russia.
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That is according to a tally made by independent Russian media of death notices published online.
OVD-Info, a human rights monitor, said last night that police had arrested at least 101 people in Makhatchkala, the capital of Dagestan in southwestern Russia.
Russian media showed videos of women arguing with police during the protest. "Why are you taking our children?" one shouts. Other videos show police violently detaining demonstrators.
In a bid to calm the population, Dagestan's military commissioner Daitbeg Mustafayev, who is in charge of troop recruitment, said at the weekend only men "with special military skills" would be called up in the first instance and no conscripts would be sent to Ukraine.
OVD-Info said more than 2,300 protesters have been arrested in protests across Russia since the partial mobilisation was ordered for Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Many draft-age men have fled abroad.
A senior lawmaker said that Russian borders should be closed to draft-eligible men amid the exodus.
"Everyone who is of conscription age should be banned from travelling abroad in the current situation," Sergei Tsekov, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, told RIA news agency.
Russian media based abroad, including news sites Meduza and Novaya Gazeta Europe, have reported that the Kremlin is planning to close the country's borders for draft-aged men.
Such reports have not appeared on the main media within Russia, where all independent outlets have been shut and reporting that differs from official accounts is banned.
Novaya Gazeta yesterday reported that 261,000 men had left the country since partial mobilisation was declared, citing an unnamed source in Russia's presidential administration.
Human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said that border guards at Russia's only operational crossing point with Georgia had now stopped some people from exiting, citing the law on mobilisation.
The local interior ministry yesterday said there was a queue of 2,300 cars at the Verkhny Lars crossing.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports of men being turned back at the border.
It comes as Finland said that more Russians entered the country over the weekend than in any other this year so far after Moscow's military call-up announcement caused a surge in arrivals.
"Last weekend was the busiest weekend of the year for traffic on the eastern border," Mert Sasioglu of the Finnish border guard told AFP.
The border agency said nearly 8,600 Russians entered Finland via the land border on Saturday and nearly 4,200 crossed the other way.
Yesterday, more than 8,300 Russians arrived and nearly 5,100 left. "The arrival rate is about double what it was a week ago," Mr Sasioglu said.
"The main reason is the mobilisation but it is also partly explained by the fact that both Finland and Russia eased Covid-19 restrictions during the summer."
Neighbouring Norway, which is not a member of the European Union but is in the Schengen area, also reported a slight increase in crossings from Russia at its Storskog border crossing in the far north.
Finland announced on 23 September that it planned to "significantly restrict the entry of Russian citizens" and would finalise the decision in the "coming days".
While the restriction is not yet in force, the border guard service said it was ready to apply the new rules "within a day".
