Bloomberg headline: Putin’s Call-Up Brings Reality of War Home to Many Russians
Police detain about 1,400 at protests in dozens of cities
‘Partial mobilization’ order triggers alarm among reservists
https://archive.ph/olkKT
President Vladimir Putin’s order to call up as many as 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine triggered alarm and scattered demonstrations as Russians were forced to confront the reality of the deadly conflict.
Police detained about 1,400 people at protests against the order in 38 cities Wednesday night, according to the OVD-Info monitoring group. Some of the male detainees were handed draft notices, while protesters may face criminal charges under the harsh laws against criticism of the war the Kremlin has imposed since the Feb. 24 invasion. Some university students who joined the demonstrations were threatened with expulsion, which could annul draft exemptions.
For millions of Russians who’ve been largely shielded from the reality of the Kremlin’s bloody seven-month war, Putin’s speech early Wednesday announcing a “partial mobilization” came as a shock. The authorities provided few details of how the order, which is the first in Russia since World War II, will be implemented and who will get drafted.
Fact: Shoigu never served a day in the Russian Armed Forces. He was a civil engineering graduate in college. He was the head of Russia’s Civil Defense for the longest time. Think FEMA. And it was there he took to wearing an Army uniform after numerous promotions as a Putin lackey.
Imagine a paper US Army General (telepathic classification from a corrupt President), not trained in warfare at West Point, but, but a regular at the Dunkin’ Donut counter while he and his buddies sat around in uniforms they did not earn and laughed at the shills Uncle Sammy was bullying with his latest decrees:
https://archive.ph/olkKT
“The mobilization order will affect 300,000 people and apply only to those with military experience, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Students and people who haven’t served in the army won’t be called up, he said.”
But the presidential decree on mobilization doesn’t specify which categories of Russia’s 2 million reservists will be called up and has a secret clause.
A media outlet set up by jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny fanned the discontent by broadcasting a conversation with the son of Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in which the program’s host posed as an official from the military recruitment office. Nikolay Peskov, 32, said he wouldn’t obey the summons and would “sort this out at another level,” according to the audio recording. Peskov later said his son’s comments were taken out of context and that he would make the “only right decision.”
Youtube video showing flights out of Russia yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UmTg2pMxzlU