Putin's partial mobilization: Kremlin chief wants to continue recruiting "covertly".

Created: 05/11/2022, 14:25

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

Vladimir Putin during his speech on the Russian national unity holiday.

© Evgeny Biyatov/Imago

According to its own statements, Russia mobilized around 300,000 new recruits in the Ukraine war.

Apparently not enough: According to experts, Putin now wants to go one step further.

Munich — After heavy losses in the Ukraine war, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin gave the order for partial mobilization in Russia in September.

This should eliminate the deficit of soldiers.

If Moscow is to be believed, about 300,000 new fighters were recruited.

But that is apparently not the end of the matter: Independent experts from the American think tank "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW) consider a covert continuation of mobilization for Russia's war to be likely.

Ukraine war: Putin apparently wants to continue mobilizing — troop strength probably not reached

Accordingly, decrees recently signed by Putin indicate that, contrary to Russian claims, the partial mobilization did not achieve sufficient troop strength.

The fact that Putin has not yet signed a decree that officially ends the mobilization announced at the end of September, according to the ISW, also speaks for this.

The Kremlin announced on Tuesday (November 1) that the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists for military service in Ukraine had been completed.

According to Putin, as many as 318,000 men have been mobilized.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it was unnecessary to end the mobilization by decree.

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War in Ukraine: Kremlin chief signs decrees for additional mobilization

According to ISW information, however, the Russian information is not consistent with Putin's decree this Friday (November 4), which also allows Russian authorities to move in civilians who are pending convictions for serious crimes.

Furthermore, Putin is said to have signed decrees expanding the list of conscripts to include men who served in volunteer formations and making exceptions for the conscription of alternative conscripts.

The ISW experts interpreted the possibility of conscripting prisoners instead of civilians as an attempt to forestall further social tensions.

Despite Kremlin claims that the district military replacement offices are now no longer allowed to recruit reservists, Russian opposition figures and online media reported that authorities are preparing for a second wave of mobilization, for example by modernizing the recruitment centers and drawing up lists of possible recruits.

According to the report, individual men would also have received draft notices for the coming year.

Ukrainians in Russia fear a new mobilization.