The second day of “partial mobilization” in russia demonstrated that:
✅ The ministry of defence of the russian federation still does not have a clear procedure for recruiting troops.
✅ In the cities of russia, mass actions of defiance are taking place, as a sign of protest, military commissariats are set on fire, federal highways are blocked, there are queues at the borders of those who want to avoid mobilization.
✅ In all regions, summonses are served at work, at the place of residence, and even after arrest at anti-war actions.
🔻The decree on “partial mobilization” is so full of vague wording, it does not at all imply the “partial” nature of the mobilization being carried out. Most citizens cannot understand what sequence of recruitment awaits them and who may not go to the front. The traditional withholding from the public of any significant data from the ministry of defence and the department’s absolute unaccountability under the pretext of “keeping secrets” gives the kremlin the opportunity not to reveal the true number of people who may be on the front line. The russians are especially confused by the “classified” seventh clause of the mobilization decree, marked “for official use”, which allows the authorities to mobilize an additional number of people (in social networks they insist on the figure of 1 million). And although the spokesman of the president of the russian ederation, peskov, denies this information and insists on the recruitment of 300,000 people, few people believe this.
🔻The russian ministry of defence “clarified”: there is no clear order of mobilization, priority is given to those with combat experience, the army primarily needs riflemen, tankmen, gunners, drivers and driver mechanics. As the ministry of defence of the russian federation assures, “reserved” citizens (in particular, employees of defence industry enterprises), unfit due to health conditions, as well as those who constantly take care of a family member or disabled person of the 1st group or have four or more children, will not be called up. Citizens of russia who permanently live abroad and are not on the military register are not subject to conscription.
☝️However, if russian man is on a short-term trip abroad, he may be drafted.
Also, the general staff of the armed forces of the russian federation claims that there is no question of the draft of full-time students studying at universities. Nevertheless, at the Buryat State University in Ulan-Ude, the russian guards began to take away students directly from lectures.
In the five russian regions that signed the mobilization order (Yakutia, Tatarstan, Samara Region, Dagestan and moscow), everywhere (except moscow, of course) the orders contain a clause according to which reserve servicemen who do not have mobilization orders and have not received summons, it is forbidden to leave your district or city.
🔻 All this uncertainty causes understandable opposition from the population. The petition against mobilization, started by anti-war activists, has already been signed by more than 340,000 people. During the September 21 protest actions against “partial mobilization” in 42 cities of the country, 1,328 people were detained, including in moscow – at least 540 people, in st. petersburg – 479 people. The police acted inappropriately harshly at the protests, using batons, and summonses were issued to the detained men. It is clear that such an approach to mobilization is unlikely to lead to the emergence of effective and motivated soldiers.
🔻 There has been a sharp increase in the number of cases of arson of state buildings. If after the beginning of the war, at least two dozen cases of arson of military committees and government buildings were reported in different parts of russia, then in one day from the beginning of the “partial mobilization” it became known about at least five direct actions in Nizhny Novgorod, Tolyatti, Lomonosovo, the village of Kira Trans-Baikal region and in the city of Gai, Orenburg region. In Dagestan, residents of the Babayurtiv district protested against the mobilization and blocked the federal highway.
Youth of the conscription age, who did not receive a summons, are fleeing en masse to Minsk, Istanbul, Astana, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Dubai and Belgrade, while russia’s borders are open. And if it is still possible to enter Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia without a visa with an ordinary russian passport, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have closed entry with tourist Schengen visas and warned that they will not issue russians fleeing mobilization, humanitarian visas. However, German Interior Minister Nancy Feiser said that the German authorities are ready to accept deserters from the russian army and opponents of putin’s regime.
☝️ Thus, the announced “partial mobilization” turned out to be a stress test for russia that will lead to a complete review of the attitude of ordinary russians to the war and will reveal how weak and sick the russian government is, especially against the background of the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front and the growing support of the civilized world . After all, against the background of russia’s traditional problems (roads, employment, inflation), hardly anyone has doubts that the invasion of Ukraine, as well as the attempt to hold worthless pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories and other miscalculations of putin have nothing to do with the country’s interests. And no decisions of the russian leadership regarding the mobilization processes will stop the advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the de-occupation of the occupied territories.
