Mobilization in Russia
Boot camp mutiny – mobilized soldiers go on barricades
Mobilization continues in Russia. Freshly drafted soldiers preparing for the front. But in contrast to the propaganda images, those mobilized often have to equip themselves – from helmets to protective vests.
© Vladimir Smirnov/TASS PUBLICATION
Even though Vladimir Putin has declared the mobilization to be over, mobilization is continuing in Russia. The fact that Putin’s words are not followed by deeds is also shown by the lack of payments that he promised by decree. In Ulyanovsk this led to a mutiny.
Mobilized men from the Russian Republic of Chuvashia practice at a training camp in the city Ulyanovsk the uprising. The most important reason for their displeasure: the lack of payments that had been promised to them. More than 100 newly recruited soldiers are now refusing to go to war.
“We are risking our own lives and going to certain death for your safety and peaceful life!” read a statement published by the human rights organization Gulagu.net and the Telegram channel Angry Chuvashia. “Our state refuses to pay us the sum of 195,000 rubles promised to us by President Vladimir Putin! Why should we fight for this state and leave our families without support?! We refuse and will participate in the ‘special military operation’ fight for justice until we get the money promised by our government led by the President of the Russian Federation!”
Vladimir Putin signed a decree on October 19 that each mobilized person should receive at least 195,000 rubles a month after being drafted into the army. According to the current exchange rate, it is the equivalent of 3176 euros. The order went into effect on November 1. In addition, at a Security Council meeting, Putin emphasized that the payments should be made while the mobilized forces are still being trained. The full wording of the decree is available to everyone on the Kremlin’s official website. The first paragraph stipulates that the payments should already be made during the training period.
Mobilization in progress, no payments
But the promised payments are not forthcoming. Not only in Ulyanovsk, where the mobilized decided to mutiny. On video footage from the affected training camp, the men complain that they have not received a one-time payment of 300,000 rubles. This had been promised to them by the conscription offices. “The military commissar promised me that within two or three days we would receive a one-time payment of 300,000 rubles,” shouts an outraged recruit.
Protests late into the night
The training officer explains to the soldiers that the corresponding draft law in the Duma was dropped after the first reading. In fact, a few days after the start of the mobilization on September 21, a group of MPs presented a bill to the lower house that would provide a lump sum payment of 300,000 rubles for the mobilized. A month later the draft was withdrawn.
But the mobilized are of little interest. “Then tear up your party ID cards and go to the front with you,” they reply to their superiors, as can be heard on the video recordings from Ulyanovsk.
After this confrontation, the recruits continued their protest. Footage from late Tuesday evening shows the angry crowd.
National Guard reportedly “calmed down” mutiny
Units of the Russian National Guard and the special unit Omon are said to have finally brought the protests in the training camp to a standstill, reports the Telegram channel “Angry Chuvashia”. According to unconfirmed information, the participants in the riot are said to have been “calmed down”. How exactly is unknown. However, other local media reports that the protests continued on Wednesday. The mobilized therefore refuse to take part in the exercises.
It is not the first time that mobilized soldiers have complained about non-payment. In the past month alone, dozens of similar videos have surfaced on social media.
Students sew clothes for soldiers
The recruits are also forced to equip themselves for war. Tampons and panty liners are intended to replace bandages. Wives of conscripted men chat that it costs about 150,000 rubles to outfit a man for war. Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have schoolchildren and students make clothes for the mobilized. Corresponding reports come from the most diverse regions of Russia, including Vladimir, Rostov, Samara, Buryatia and Bashkortostan.
“The mobilization that Putin announced on September 21 is by no means a partial mobilization,” stresses im Conversation with the independent broadcaster Dozhd Sergej Krivenko, head of the legal protection organization Citizens. Army.Law. “The presidential decree does not specify any deadlines. The mobilization is ongoing. The Minister of Defense has only announced the end of the mobilization measures. Not the end of the mobilization itself.” The vocabulary is crucial here. In doing so, Shoigu effectively announced the end of the first wave of mobilization. It is not known how many new recruits have been drafted. The information from the Russian Ministry of Defense cannot be trusted. “200,000, 300,000, 500,000, some sources even speak of a million mobilized,” says Kriwenko.
Russia digests first wave of mobilization
“The Ministry of Defense is now digesting this first wave. (…) After all, the space in the training centers is limited. Everyone has to be equipped and supplied. The logistical problems, which are serious, have to be solved. It will take a few months,” explained the expert. In addition, the real autumn entry into military service has now begun, which will wash another 120,000 recruits into the same training camps.
“The Ministry of Defense is currently no longer able to carry out large-scale mobilization measures. But many experts expect that a new wave of mobilization will start at the end of the winter.”
Also read: While the police are raiding Moscow hostels and driving men from dormitories to recruitment offices, newly drafted soldiers are dying in the training camps – before they even leave Russia.
More on the subject: