Russia's "No" to military call up

The Russian government’s “partial mobilisation” is the latest of an array of misguided and dangerous steps that have defined the invasion of Ukraine. Announced by Vladimir Putin and Minister for Defence Sergey Shoigu on the 21st of September, the supposed plan was to mobilise only the army “reserves’” — those with recent military experience, of roughly fighting age. But in a country where military service is mandatory for all men, the pool of “reserve” is potentially very large.

The original speech announced 300,000 new soldiers. A whisper from the government suggested that the real number of required recruits may have been 1.2 million. It was not clear which number was more realistic, or how successful any mobilisation drive would be at reaching either number, given the obvious failure of Russia’s war to this point, and the successful ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Some experts correctly predicted that the mobilisation would not be happening equally across Russia’s landmass. The Russian army has always depended on its ability to over-recruit among repressed ethnic minorities, who largely live in poorer regions a long way from the major cities, and are often tempted by the above-average military wage. Moscow and St. Petersburg are full of affluent white Russian liberals, with more access to higher education and foreign-language news sources, more access with contacts outside of Russia, and more of a propensity to protest.

Reports came in quickly of mass mobilisation in regions such as Dagestan, Buryatia and Yakutia. There is no hard data, but video reports and personal testimonies suggest thousands of men from these regions are being recruited with little regard for how long ago they served, or how old they are. There are many recorded examples of men over 50 being sent draft papers. These regions, unsurprisingly, have also seen protests against the mobilisation. A video of an enrolment office in Dagestan shows local men hurling abuse at an enrolment officer, who is attempting to tell them that they will be “fighting for the future”. “What are you talking about? We have no present!” replies one man.

Protests in the major cities have also been large. After several months of almost no arrests from street protest, there was a flurry of activity the night after the mobilisation was announced, with just under two thousand arrested. The primary slogan was nyet mogilizatsii — replacing the “b” in “mobilisation” to make “no to grave-ification”.

Denis Zakharov, a Moscow activist, detailed his arrest and being given incorrectly filled-out draft papers in a Twitter thread, one of several accounts that confirms that arrested anti-mobilisation protestors are themselves being mobilised. Whether they, or any of the unwilfully-drafted men, will make good soldiers remains to be seen.