The anger is getting stronger. Two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s last speech, during which he decreed a partial mobilization of the 300,000 reservists to support the soldiers already present on the scene, the first departures took place painfully.
“That is not right”
On social networks and in various independent media, footage shot in some of Russia’s poorest regions shows the departure of several dozen men, after heartbreaking farewells. Among them, Dmitry, a student who did not think that he would leave his family so soon.
“I did not expect to have to go out today, nobody said anything to me in the morning. They gave me the mobilization order with the obligation to come here at 3:00 p.m. We waited for 1:30 and then the officer came and said they are leaving now,” he explains to the media. Ostorozhno Novostiin a video broadcast on BFMTV.
In that same sequence, his father, who had come to say goodbye to him, allowed his discontent to be expressed and accused Vladimir Putin of not having kept his word. “The presidential decree stipulated that no student would be recruited. Finally it is like this, they recruited him without any explanation, it is not correct, ”he criticizes.
leaks
This mobilization, albeit partial, had the effect of an electric shock within Russian society. In recent hours, many Russian men have tried to leave the country through the Finnish and Georgian borders, while plane tickets from Moscow and St. Petersburg have been stormed.
With BFMTV, 27-year-old Sergei, who has been out of the country since March, explains why he doesn’t want to fight in Ukraine.
“I am not ready to participate in this war crime. It is a war crime that is taking place and I have a business abroad. My life is elsewhere, I am not ready to participate in this crime against humanity,” he said.
On Tuesday, on the eve of the partial mobilization, Parliament voted heavy prison sentences for those who refuse to enlist in the army or desert. However, the text has not yet entered into force.
stress and disorganization
Especially since, according to Colonel Michel Goya, a defense consultant for BFMTV, the notion of a reservist is not at all the same in Russia as it is in Western countries, and Vladimir Putin’s decree could, in fact, affect much more than 300,000 men:
“If we stick to the criteria, this concerns 25 million people. Any man who has worn the uniform does military service, even students who have done military training to avoid the service. 25 million men say to themselves ‘it could be me’. , there is a tension that is instilled in this society that had been preserved from war until then.
To this must be added a certain disorganization of the Russian army, visibly unprepared for such a prolonged conflict. “Nothing is really organized, executives, non-commissioned officers, officers who are in Ukraine are needed, there is a lack of equipment, it is the most total rush,” he adds.
However, on Thursday night, a spokesman for the Russian Army General Staff indicated that 10,000 people had already volunteered to mobilize for the offensive in Ukraine in the space of just 24 hours.
Source: BFM TV
