As the first phase of Russia’s new “partial mobilization” began yesterday, videos appeared on social media purporting to show newly mobilized men preparing to be deployed.
In the town of Neryungi, six time zones east of Ukraine, a community video channel posted clips of families saying goodbye to a large group of men as they boarded buses.
The video shows a woman crying and hugging her bereaved husband, as he holds her daughter’s hand from the bus window.
Police arrested protesters in 38 Russian cities on Wednesday. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)
More men were shown in other videos apparently waiting for transport in the Yakutiya region, a vast Siberian territory, and at Magadan airport in Russia’s far east.
CNN has not been able to independently geolocate or date all of the videos posted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week called for a “partial mobilization” of the Russian population to support the war in Ukraine, as a sudden counter-offensive from Kyiv has retaken thousands of square kilometers of territory and has put Moscow on its back. Experts say Russia’s forces have been significantly depleted.
The announcement would involve the call-up of 300,000 reservists, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Russia’s Human Rights Council has proposed that immigrants from Central Asian countries who have held Russian citizenship for less than 10 years undergo mandatory military service in Russia for a year, in the first sign of how Moscow is intensifying their efforts.
“We are preparing proposals for new citizens of the Russian Federation who have held Russian citizenship for less than 10 years to do mandatory military service for one year for people from Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan” , board member Kirill Kabanov wrote. yesterday on Telegram.
“Refusal to perform military service should entail the deprivation of Russian citizenship not only for a person obliged to do military service, but also for members of his family,” he added.
A woman reacts as police arrest demonstrators during an anti-mobilization protest in Moscow. (AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
In his speech, Putin said that those with military experience would be subject to military service and stressed that the accompanying decree – which had already been signed – was necessary to “protect our homeland, its sovereignty and its integrity territorial”.
But the decree seems to allow for a broader mobilization than he suggested in his speech. Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist and contributor to the Chatham House think tank, told Telegram that while the decree “describes the mobilization as partial,” it “does not set any parameters for that partiality, neither territorial nor categorical “.
“According to this text, anyone can be called up except those who work in the military-industrial complex who are exempt during the period of their work. The fact that mobilization applies only to reservists or those who have some especially necessary skills is “mentioned in the address, but not in the decree”.
Russian human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said the decree sets out the mobilization “in the broadest terms”.
“The president leaves it to the discretion of the defense minister. So, in fact, it is the Russian defense ministry that will decide who will be sent to war, from where and in what numbers,” Chikov told Telegram.
After the speech, at least 1,300 people were arrested across Russia on Wednesday for taking part in anti-war protests across the country, some of whom were recruited directly into the army, a monitoring group said, after leader Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of citizens for his hesitant invasion of Ukraine.
Riot police detain a protester during an anti-mobilization protest in Moscow, Russia. (AP)
Images and videos show police cracking down on protesters in several cities, with footage showing several protesters at a rally in central Moscow being led away by police and authorities in St. Petersburg who were trying to contain a crowd chanting “no mobilization” in the exterior of Isakiivskiy Cathedral.
Police detained protesters in 38 Russian cities on Wednesday, according to figures released shortly after midnight by the independent watchdog group OVD-Info. The group’s spokeswoman, Maria Kuznetsova, told CNN by phone that at least four police stations in Moscow, some of the protesters arrested by riot police were being recruited directly into the Russian military.
One of those arrested has been threatened with prosecution for refusing to be drafted, he said. The government has said the punishment for rejecting the draft is now 15 years in prison. Of the more than 1,300 people arrested across the country, more than 500 were in Moscow and more than 520 in St. Petersburg, according to OVD-Info.
Just over half of the detained protesters whose names were made public are women, OVD-Info also said, making it the largest anti-government protest by women in recent history. The watchdog specified, however, that the full scale of the arrests is unknown.
Nine journalists and 33 minors are also among those arrested, he said, adding that one of the minors was “brutally beaten” by law enforcement.
A protester jumps on a police officer to prevent his friend from being arrested during an anti-mobilization protest in Moscow, Russia. (AP)
The specter of nuclear weapons
Putin also raised the specter of nuclear weapons in his speech, saying he would use “all means at our disposal” if he felt Russia’s “territorial integrity” was being threatened. It also approved referendums on joining Russia that Russian-appointed leaders in four occupied Ukrainian regions announced they would hold this week.
Concern among Russian citizens was palpable on Wednesday as travel agency websites showed a dramatic increase in demand for flights to places where Russians do not need visas. Flight websites indicate that direct flights to these countries were sold out at least until Friday.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the European Commission acknowledged that there had been numerous requests from Russian citizens hoping to enter European Union countries. They said the EU plans to establish a joint position on the matter.
The European Commission also noted that, for now, each member state will have to assess entry requests on a case-by-case basis, adding that the management of the EU’s external borders should be carried out by in accordance with EU legislation and comply with the “fundamentals”. rights and all current legislation for asylum procedures”.
The protests in Russia, most of which appeared to have drawn a few dozen people, were another strong sign of the desperation felt by some. Dissent is usually quickly crushed in Russia, and authorities have placed further restrictions on free speech following the invasion of Ukraine.
People support demonstrators during an anti-mobilization protest in Moscow, Russia. (AP)
Images on social media showed several protesters in Ulan Ude, eastern Siberia, holding signs reading “No to war! No to mobilization!” and “Our husbands, fathers and brothers do not want to kill other husbands and fathers!”
“We want our fathers, husbands and brothers to stay alive…and not leave their children as orphans. Stop the war and don’t take our people!” said one protester.
A video from Yekaterinburg, in western Russia, showed police fighting with several protesters. CNN was unable to independently verify the footage from either city.
Another video posted by a reporter from the Moscow Internet publication The Village shows dozens of people on Arbatskaya Street chanting “Let him go” as a man is taken away.
Prosecutors in Moscow also warned citizens on Wednesday not to join protests or distribute information calling for participation, reminding people they could face up to 15 years in prison.
Asked yesterday about reports of people arrested at anti-war demonstrations receiving summonses for military conscription, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the practice “is not against the law. There is no there is a violation of the law”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)
Putin’s announcement was condemned on Wednesday by Western leaders, many of whom were meeting at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
In a rare joint statement, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said they both agree that Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilization of Russian citizens is a sign of “weakness”.
European Union foreign ministers agreed in New York to push ahead with a new round of sanctions against Russia, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the press.
Ukraine remained defiant of Putin’s announcement, with President Volodymyr Zelensky telling the UNGA in a pre-recorded speech on Wednesday that Russia was “afraid of real (peace) negotiations” and pointing to what he called ” Russian “lies”.
Russia “talks about talks but announces military mobilization,” Zelensky said. “Russia wants war.”
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said yesterday that Putin’s “partial mobilization” only strengthens the country’s support for Ukraine. French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said his country would continue to support Ukraine in terms of weapons and training, but added that France needed cooperation within NATO to do so.
Ukrainian soldiers embrace as Russians retreat
Meanwhile, analysis by researchers at the Institute for the Study of War said the move will not have a marked impact on the immediate outcome of the war.
The analysis said it would take weeks or months to bring reservists to combat readiness, that Russian reservists are “poorly trained to begin with” and that the “deliberate phases” of deployment described by Russia’s defense minister are. ..