Three days after the announcement of the partial conscription in Russia, the number of people wearing the uniform in Russia is steadily increasing - but so are the number of incidents, which reveal the mess in the conscription system.
This afternoon a precedent was set: a newly recruited man from Moscow escaped from his unit in the Belgorod district on the border of Ukraine, armed with an assault rifle.
According to local reports, the conscript fled in a military truck, then switched to a private vehicle and slipped away to the nearby Kursk region.
A short time later, he was caught by the police forces.
Fresh recruits in Volgograd.
"Unable to meet Putin's mission", photo: AP
This is an unusual event, but it cannot be ruled out that it signals the strength of the recruits' lack of desire to fight, certainly when there are increasing signs that the recruitment is being carried out without meeting the criteria established by the Ministry of Defense: those with suitable military professions (drivers, snipers, mechanics, etc.) and those with combat experience.
In practice, the governors of the districts in cooperation with the local recruitment bureaus seize anyone who comes by - adults, students, defense industry workers and other citizens without previous military experience - to meet the quotas assigned to each region.
Many times this is also done in violation of the law, such as in the recruitment of fathers with four or more children who have not yet turned 16. As a result of the mess, even people with medical exemptions - or dubious types, who do not miss an opportunity to get drunk to the point of losing recognition at the recruiting offices themselves - are called to the flag.
"Recruit without diagnosis".
Atmosphere in one of the recruiting offices
Another problem, already documented by the recruits, is the quality of the equipment.
The fact that 70-year-old tanks were taken out of storage and sent to the front at the beginning of summer is no secret, just as it is no secret that the Russian army even lacks helmets.
Videos have already circulated today, in which the recruits show the Kalashnikov rifles they received:
Rusty guns received by new recruits in Russia // Social networks
The deviations from the requirements of the order and the public statements have already led to cases of arguments with commanders of recruitment bureaus, refusal to serve in violation of the law, and even provocations.
Recruits in Omsk region fight with policemen // Citizens' Association of Omsk
And at the same time, the escape of Russian citizens to the neighboring countries: Finland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Georgia continues.
The waiting time for crossing the border with the Caucasian neighbor reached 36 hours today.
The length of the traffic jam is already estimated at 20 km. Since it is forbidden to cross the border on foot, electric scooters are offered for sale on the Telegram channels: those who use them are no longer considered pedestrians and therefore manage to bypass the queues of cars and enter Georgia.
Russian men at the "Varhani Lars" border crossing in Georgia.
managed to escape, photo: AP
In the daily report of the Institute for the Study of War, which sits in Washington, it was written today that "the Russian recruitment system is having difficulty carrying out the task set by Putin and therefore will probably fail to produce force reserves, even of poor quality, unless Putin succeeds in quickly correcting the fundamental and systemic problems." Without or with Connection, yesterday Deputy Minister of Defense General Dmitry Bulgakov, who was in charge of the technical and material supply, was fired and replaced by General Mikhail Mizintsev, known as the "Butcher from Mariupol".
Meanwhile, in Russia, the sporadic protests against the partial conscription (and partly also against the war in Ukraine itself) are being renewed.
As of this time, small demonstrations were recorded in cities in the Russian Far East and Siberia, including Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Chita, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude and Tomsk.
Demonstrations are scheduled to begin in the western part of Russia at 5:00 p.m.
Along with the demonstrations, burning of government buildings and recruiting offices continues.
So far, nine offices have been set on fire.
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