Si Moscow claims to have positive feedback from the mobilization of reservists – although the system has ended – on the Ukrainian front, the families of the soldiers mobilized, and the soldiers who have returned home, do not see things in the same way… It is not the word “success” that they think of, but rather “chaos”. “We had to buy the uniform, the equipment, the medicine ourselves. In training, it was complete chaos, everything was very badly organized, ”Tatiana, whose nephew was mobilized in early October in Krasnogorsk, northwest of Moscow, told AFP.
“All we are shown on (Russian) TV is flan. We have the impression that the decision to mobilize was taken suddenly and that no one was ready”, adds this woman, who wishes to keep her family name secret for fear of reprisals, in a country where those who criticize the army risk the prison.
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Anna, a resident of Ivanteïevka, northeast of Moscow, is still stunned by the mobilization of her son-in-law. They both have family in Ukraine. “Our relatives are under bombs in Dnipro and he will have to go and kill in our native country,” she breathes, tears in her eyes. “He is against the war. But he has no choice: it’s the front or prison,” she adds. Shortly before the mobilization, the Russian deputies toughened the punishments for those mobilized who refuse to go and fight: up to ten years in prison.
According to Anna, her son-in-law spent nearly 100,000 rubles (over $1,000), seven times the Russian minimum wage, for a bulletproof vest, uniform, warm clothes, boots and other gear.
On social networks, calls for donations have multiplied to help conscripts buy this equipment, which should in theory be provided by the army.
Brief training
Faced with the scale of the dysfunctions, it is impossible to ignore the reality: in mid-October, three Russian military correspondents, who are nevertheless known for their support for the offensive against Ukraine, published the edifying story of the mobilized soldiers of the 27e motorized brigade.
These men, mostly mobilized in the Moscow region, “trained only twice between September 23 and October 3” before being sent to the front, where they suffered heavy losses, according to Anastassia Kachevarova, the one of these journalists.
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Deployed in the Luhansk region (eastern Ukraine), annexed in September by Moscow, “they found themselves under crossfire from their own artillery and that of the enemies”, according to the correspondent. This information was confirmed anonymously to AFP by a relative of one of the survivors. The spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, questioned by AFP during a press briefing, indicated that the Kremlin would “verify” this information. An investigation has been launched by the military prosecutor’s office.
Among the dead of the 27e brigade features Timur Ismailov, a 33-year-old computer scientist who should have been exempted from service in the army. “Mobilized on September 23, he found himself on October 7 in the combat zone” and died on October 13 under mortar fire, his lawyer, Konstantin Erokhin, said on his Telegram channel. According to him, the military commissariat did not receive in time the list of bank employees exempt from mobilization drawn up by the Central Bank and on which Timur Ismailov appeared.
“Correct” the shot
The Kremlin has admitted “errors” in the context of the mobilization with cases of mobilized suffering from serious illnesses, exceeding the regulatory age or being fathers of several young children.
Nearly 10,000 people mobilized by mistake have been sent home, according to the head of the lower house of parliament’s committee for defense, Andrei Kartapolov. Dmitry Peskov nevertheless assured that “the energetic measures taken to correct the situation are giving first positive results”.
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To improve the supply of equipment to soldiers, the Kremlin notably announced the creation on October 21 of a “Coordination Council” headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine.
These drifts have in any case reinforced the concern of young men fearing to be mobilized even without having military experience, many of whom have fled to border countries, or even further afield, in particular to Turkey. To the point that former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised the subject on social media on Friday, calling these men “cowardly traitors” on Telegram.