The current conflict in Ukraine, which the world openly calls "war" and which has been baptized here with the euphemism of "special military operation", suddenly knocked on the door of the Russians yesterday. With an early message recorded on video and broadcast on television, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, finished waking up those who continued to believe that the fighting in the neighboring country was something distant, and decreed a "partial mobilization", the first in Russia since World War II, with which he wants to send 300,000 civilians registered as reservists to fight. The most dissatisfied defied the restrictions on demonstrations and took to the streets of several cities to oppose the decision. The police arrested more than 1,300 people.
Vladimir Putin called for "partial mobilization" seven months into the conflict in Ukraine and when Moscow is losing ground on the battlefield. He justified his decision on alleged affronts to the West, which, according to him, "wants to destroy Russia." Putin accused Western countries of using "nuclear blackmail" and warned that Russia has a sufficient arsenal to respond.
The Russian president specified that only citizens who are currently in the reserves will be obliged to serve in the Russian armed forces and, “above all, those who served in the ranks of the armed forces and have a certain military specialty and relevant experience. ”. Then the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigú, pointed out that this mobilization does not affect the students. Partial mobilization will see 300,000 men called up, he said. In addition, the minister acknowledged 5,937 dead in the ranks of the Russian army in the military campaign in Ukraine.
The first wave of mobilizations will include soldiers up to 35 years old and non-commissioned officers up to 45, explained the chairman of the Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov.
The decision to declare a partial mobilization is "fully appropriate to the threats we face," Putin continued, "to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and the people of the occupied territories. ”.
The Russian leader made it clear that he has the most infernal weapons and that he is the second nuclear power in the world. He accused the West of threatening Russia with "nuclear blackmail." If they continue with him, Moscow will respond with his arsenal. “If the integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all means to protect our people. This is not a bluff, ”he warned in the televised message.
The West's goal is "to ultimately weaken, divide and destroy our country," the Kremlin chief said. And he stressed that "they openly say that in 1991 they were able to dismember the Soviet Union" and that now "Russia's turn has come."
Putin's announcement caused serious concern among the Russian population, something that the authorities already had, who in seven months of conflict have avoided calling for mobilization despite requests from the most radical Russian nationalists.
That discontent was materialized yesterday in the street by peace groups, who called demonstrations "against the mobilization."
The Vesná (Spring) organization called for a concentration at seven in the evening in the center of all Russian cities. The group claimed that “thousands of Russian men, our fathers, brothers and husbands, will be thrown into the grinder of war. Now the war has reached every home and every family.”
Hundreds of people in various cities across the country defied months of repression against critical voices, in addition to laws approved in March that provide up to 15 years in prison for distributing "false news" about the army.
In this scenario, a massive mobilization, as was seen in the cities of the Russian Far East and Siberia, was not likely. In some places the protest was testimonial, as in Khabarovsk or Yakutsk. Almost a hundred people dared to go out in Tomsk, where the police arrested 30 people, according to the NGO OVD-Info.
In Moscow and St. Petersburg, several hundred protesters gathered in the center of the two main Russian cities. "Life for our children!", "No to war!", was heard, among other slogans, in the central Arbat street of the capital.
Videos uploaded to social networks showed that the police did not mess around and arrested the most prominent protesters. OVD-Info counted more than 1,300 detainees in 38 cities at nine o'clock at night in Moscow.
Supporters of imprisoned opponent Alexei Navalni also supported the protests.
He accused Putin of wanting "hundreds of thousands of people to be stained with blood" in order to perpetuate himself in power. “This will lead to a great tragedy, a huge number of deaths. Putin is losing the neighboring country, he is killing people there, and now he is throwing into the war grinder a large number of Russian citizens who should just lead a normal life and take care of their families," he said at a court hearing, according to posted his team on Telegram.
Putin's address was issued a day after the self-proclaimed Luhansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR) People's Republics, as well as the pro-Russian authorities of the territories controlled by the Russian army in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions simultaneously announced the celebration. of express referendums to join Russia. Voting will take place between September 23 and 27.
