It is now clear that Putin’s war in Ukraine is not going as planned. Now there are reports of a “silent mobilization” that has been said to have been underway since the invasion began. Russian authorities apparently bombard men with invitations to take part in the “special operation”.
According to a report by the BBC Russian Service, many Russians are currently finding requests for “military registration” in their mailboxes. Journalists from the station spoke to many of those affected – for example, a 26-year-old resident of the Moscow district of Koptevo.
He received a letter from the Russian Military Registration and Enlistment Office in April this year. According to the report, he ignored the appeal “to appear at the commissariat for the re-registration of documents”. Others affected told the BBC they “tore up and threw away” their mail.
Apparently, this behavior has not had any consequences so far. According to the broadcaster, the sheer volume of registration letters shows how aggressively new soldiers are recruited in Russia. As early as March, the authorities are said to have started summoning “reserve people”.
“Anyone who is called to the military registration and enlistment office can simply refuse, nothing will happen to him because of that,” human rights activist Sergei Krivenko told Russian-language TV channel Current Time TV.
But some Russians may not be aware of this. The Security Service of Ukraine, SBU for short, has published several videos on YouTube in which people present themselves as Russian reservists. They tell that in the first days of April they were invited by the military registration and draft offices and “mobilized” there.
The men claim they were actually hired for humanitarian aid or other background work. Everything is said to have turned out differently in Ukraine. One person affected reports that he was taken by plane from Yekaterinburg to the Rostov region just one day after his visit to the authorities, and landed in the Lugansk region a short time later. Eventually he found himself in the trenches.
The men in the SBU clips speak of “mobilization”. Nevertheless, the BBC assumes that they voluntarily signed corresponding contracts. The employees of the Russian authorities were apparently able to convince them to take part in the “special operation”. This is how the Ukraine war is called in the Russian state media.
Other Russians received concrete contract offers in the mail – garnished with pathetic promises. A letter obtained by the BBC Russian Service speaks of “stability”, “opportunities for self-realization”, “a decent standard of living” and “high social status”. In addition, 130,000 rubles (equivalent to 1931 euros) beckon upon conclusion of the contract.
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However, the young man from the Tyver region who received the letter was undeterred. “He was serving in St. Petersburg in 2019, he was the driver,” his mother told the BBC. “He said he would never turn to the army again.” But it’s quite possible that other Russians will accept the contract offers.
Putin’s “silent mobilization” has long been a much-discussed topic on Twitter. Racing driver Igor Sushko, who is considered well-informed about the Ukraine war, published a lengthy post about it. He learned from an insider that many Russians are currently being contacted by the authorities – but above all people with previous military experience.
The athlete writes of a nationwide campaign with a “strong focus on experienced specialists”. However, he also emphasizes that this is not an official recruitment campaign. Rather, those affected would be persuaded to take part in the Russian “special operation” – for example with money. “This is a good means of pressure, especially in Russian regions.”
Ultimately, it is not only the efforts of the authorities that suggest that Russia urgently needs additional soldiers. According to the BBC, numerous, mostly state-owned companies are looking for “specialists in military registration”. In the past week alone, 230 such job advertisements appeared on the “hh.ru” job portal.
The BBC calls this “mobilizing mobilizers”.
One thing is clear: the Ukraine invasion is not proceeding as Russian President Vladimir Putin had imagined. According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), many Russian battalions are now severely depleted. And the morale of the armed forces also seems to be deteriorating. A Pentagon expert said just a few days ago that some Russian soldiers are disobeying their commanders’ orders.
