Vladimir Putin unveiled on Wednesday his strategy to deal with the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive. The Russian president signed a decree authorizing a “partial mobilization” of the population. Clearly, it’s about inflating his workforce by calling up both reservists and recently demobilized conscripts, but also by calling up 300,000 reservists, according to Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defense Ministry. He adds that these reservists will receive training before being sent to the front lines.
Vladimir Putin did not specify the profile of these reinforcements. Will they be specialists or, as many observers think, “cannon fodder” to come to the aid of struggling Russian troops in terms of both numbers and morale? They will be trained soldiers who have left the army for civilian life.
“Russia must increase its maneuver mass, it needs infantry. It will be necessary to bring them to the area, equip them, train them, which will take time to do with 300,000 soldiers,” explains General Jérôme Pellistrandi, defense consultant for BFMTV. .
2.3 million soldiers
This announcement follows a decree signed on August 25 aimed at increasing the number of soldiers in the Russian army by 10% on January 1, 2023 to reach two million members, including 1.15 million soldiers, or 137,000 additional soldiers. .
With this partial mobilization, the Russian army will expect 2.3 million soldiers. To deter desertions among these new recruits, the Duma on Tuesday adopted a law to consider traitors and imprison reservists who refuse to take up arms.
Will this sizeable force go to fight in the Ukraine? The Russian Defense Minister issued a statement that raises questions. “Russia is fighting not so much against Ukraine as against the West,” he declared, echoing Vladimir Putin, who announced this morning that “the goal of the West is to destroy Russia.”
Source: BFM TV
