“You make people angry”: Official criticism of Putin’s actions is growing

“You make people angry”
Official criticism of Putin’s actions is growing

In the course of the partial mobilization, midwives, the sick and Russians without military experience also receive a draft notice. Criticism of the Kremlin’s chaotic actions is growing louder from official sources. People are protesting on the streets across the country.

The Russian mobilization is now also increasingly attracting criticism from supporters of President Vladimir Putin. The editor-in-chief of the state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, railed against the chaotic actions of the authorities on her Telegram channel. “It has been announced that privates can be recruited up to the age of 35. The summonses go to 40-year-olds,” explained Simonyan. “They make people angry, as if they are doing it on purpose, as if they are doing it out of malice. As if they were sent from Kyiv.”

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began seven months ago, there has been little criticism from pro-Kremlin quarters. But Simonyan is not alone. The head of the Kremlin Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeyev, also stated that he had written to the defense minister asking him to “urgently solve” problems with the mobilization. Sergei Shoigu should put an end to the “bludgeoning system” at many draft offices in the country.

In a post on Telegram, Fadeyev criticized the way exemptions were applied. He cited several instances of improper conscription, including nurses and midwives with no military experience. “Some (recruiters) hand out the draft papers at 2 a.m. as if they thought we were all draft evaders.”

In the Yakutia region of Siberia, the head of the republic, Aissen Nikolayev, admitted that mistakes had been made in the military district offices. Men were drafted who did not fall under the mobilization. “Reservists were drafted incorrectly, they have to be sent back. The work has already begun,” said Nikolayev. In the social networks in Russia there are numerous cases in which fathers of large families, men without combat experience or older and chronically ill reserve officers report that they have been drafted. Nikolayev said that the decisions of the military commissariats need to be better checked.

Hundreds arrested during protests

Since Putin’s announcement on Wednesday, there has also been resistance among the population. Once again, people took to the streets in numerous cities against the partial mobilization. The Russian police took brutal action against participants in anti-war protests. In St. Petersburg, videos were published on social networks showing men in combat uniform and helmets beating demonstrators. The human rights portal ovd.info, citing eyewitnesses, reported that security forces used electric batons. In the evening there were talks of at least 730 arrests in 32 cities across the country, almost half of them in Moscow.

Russia officially counts millions of ex-conscripts as reservists – potentially nearly all of the combat-age male population. Wednesday’s decree announcing “partial mobilization” did not specify who would be called up. Officials say 300,000 troops are needed, with priority given to those with recent military experience and key skills. The Russian Presidential Office has denied reports by two foreign-based media outlets that a hidden clause in Russia’s mobilization decree provides for the call-up of more than a million reservists.

Since the announcement of the first mobilization in Russia since World War II, many Russian men have tried to avoid conscription by fleeing abroad. At times, long lines have formed at the borders with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Finland and Georgia. The Interior Ministry of the Russian region of North Ossetia advised against leaving the country at the Verkhny Lars border crossing in the direction of Georgia. According to the information, 2,300 cars were jammed there.

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