by Felix Light
LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) – A gunman was arrested on Monday after opening fire at a Russian army mobilization center in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, the local governor said.
The shooter, who in a video posted on social media introduces himself to police as 25-year-old Ruslan Zinin, opened fire at a recruitment office in the city of Ust-Ilimsk.
Another video shows the young man firing at least one shot inside this military office.
Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of these images.
The governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, wrote on Telegram that an official of this recruitment center was hospitalized in critical condition and that the arrested man “will be absolutely punished”.
Local media also reported that a man attempted to set himself on fire at a bus station in Ryazan, a town about 185 km southeast of Moscow, shouting that he did not want to fight in Ukraine. He was evacuated by ambulance.
A number of conscription offices have been attacked since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday a partial mobilization of reservists in order to fulfill the objectives of his “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Demonstrations took place over the weekend in the republics of Dagestan and Yakutia, both of which have committed significant numbers of troops to the war in Ukraine. (Reuters report, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Kate Entringer)