Almost seven months after the start of the war against Ukraine, Russia ordered a partial mobilization of its own armed forces. He made this decision after a proposal from the Defense Ministry and signed the decree, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin said in a televised speech on Wednesday. Partial mobilization will begin this Wednesday. He also wants to solve personnel problems at the front. At the same time, Putin announced that he would support the “referendums” in the occupied territories of Ukraine on joining Russia.
According to Putin, the partial mobilization means that reservists will be drafted. He assured them that they would have the same status and pay as the current contract soldiers, and they would receive military training before going to the front. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, 300,000 reservists are to be mobilized against Ukraine. Reservists with combat experience should be used in the partial mobilization ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, Shoigu said on Russian television on Wednesday. There are a total of 25 million reservists in Russia.
Russian opposition calls for protests against mobilization
“Thousands of Russian men – our fathers, brothers and husbands – will be thrown into the meat grinder of war,” anti-war movement Vesna said, according to a report by NTV. She appealed to the Russians to take to the streets in the big cities from 7 p.m. to protest against the mobilization.
In a video message from prison, Putin critic Alexei Navalny says: “It is clear that this criminal war is getting worse, more intense, and Putin is trying to involve as many as possible.”
Flights from Moscow to Istanbul and Yerevan sold out
According to Reuters news agency, Google trends are currently showing a spike in searches for Aviasales, the most popular Russian website for buying flights. Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia, both destinations that allow Russians visa-free entry, were sold out on Wednesday, according to the report.
Some routes with stopovers, including those from Moscow to Tbilisi, were also unavailable, while the cheapest flights from the capital to Dubai cost more than 300,000 rubles – about five times the average monthly wage.
Mobilization restricts the Russians’ freedom to travel
According to the partial mobilization order, Russians of draft age are required by law to stay where they live. “Citizens who are registered (as reservists) in the military register are prohibited from leaving their place of residence from the moment of mobilization without the permission of the military commissariats and the executive bodies responsible for reserves,” says the law “On mobilization in Russia”.
According to the head of the Defense Committee in the Duma, Andrei Kartapolov, the restriction on freedom of travel primarily affects vacations abroad. “You can continue to go to Krasnodar or Omsk on a business trip, but I wouldn’t advise you to go to Turkish resorts – it’s better to relax in the resorts of Crimea and Krasnodar region,” the deputy said on Wednesday.
According to a report by NTV, Russian Railways and the airline Aeroflot will no longer sell train or plane tickets to men between the ages of 18 and 65. Both companies had previously assured that there were no restrictions on the sale of tickets.
Putin also mentioned nuclear weapons
The “People’s Republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow recognizes, and the Russian-occupied Cherson and Zaporizhia regions intend to enter controversial proceedings this week vote on joining the Russian Federation to let. This was announced by the regions on Tuesday. The mock referendums, which are not recognized by either Ukraine or the international community, are to be held from September 23-27. They are seen as a reaction to the current Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east of the country.
Similarly, in 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. However, the vote was never recognized internationally, and the West has already clearly distanced itself from Russian plans in the case of the southern and eastern Ukrainian territories occupied in February of this year. However, Moscow had always emphasized that it would not allow itself to be diverted from its goals in Ukraine by punitive measures by the EU and the USA.
In his address to the nation, Putin also sharply attacked the West, which, in addition to sanctions against Russia, also provides financial and military support to the Ukrainian leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Russia will continue to use all means to protect its territorial integrity, Putin said. He also mentioned nuclear weapons. Putin has already put the strategic nuclear arsenal on increased readiness to deter NATO from interfering in Ukraine.
Kyiv reacts with ridicule to Moscow’s partial mobilization
Kyiv reacted with derision to the ordered partial mobilization. The external advisor to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoliak, asked on Twitter on Wednesday: “Is everything still going according to plan or not?” The war planned for “three days” has already lasted 210 days. The Russians, who demanded Ukraine’s annihilation, have now received mobilization, closed borders, blocked accounts and prison sentences for deserters, among other things. “Life has a wonderful sense of humor,” concluded Podoljak.
His colleague Oleksiy Arestovych interpreted the Kremlin’s move as meaning that the high losses are forcing Russia to take this measure. “There are more than 100,000 killed and wounded, closer to 150,000,” wrote Arestovych. The next 150,000 have already been mentally written off. “How good it is to be Russian under Putin,” he wrote wryly. On Wednesday Moscow had spoken of 5,937 dead members of its own military since the beginning of the war. Independent observers also believe that the real losses are many times higher than stated.
Russian forces suffered defeat
Russian political scientist Tatyana Stanovaya said that Putin decided to hold accession referendums after the failure of his original plans to quickly seize the territories of Ukraine. Once the regions have been included, he has the option of defending the territories under threat of using nuclear weapons. In doing so, he significantly increased his efforts in the war.
In view of the recent Ukrainian advance, the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk had called for such “coordination” to be held quickly. Most recently, the Kremlin had to accept a painful defeat, the Russian troops withdrew almost completely from the Kharkiv region after Ukrainian attacks. State propaganda then warned of a possible devastating defeat in the war. On the other hand, the Russian military leadership has repeatedly emphasized that everything is going according to plan and that all goals have been achieved.
Scholz: Mobilization and sham referendums violate international law
However, the German government has sharply criticized Russia’s actions. Putin’s decision to partially mobilize is “a further escalation of this illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” said Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) on Wednesday in Berlin. It is a “bad and wrong step from Russia”, the consequences of which the federal government will advise. In addition, it is “clear that we will continue to support Ukraine fully,” added Habeck.
The federal government has already condemned the planned referendums in the Russian-occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Cherson and Zaporizhia as violating international law. It was “very, very clear that these sham referendums cannot be accepted, that they are not covered by international law and by the understandings that the international community has reached,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly clearly in New York.