It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin, in response to a string of defeats in Ukraine, declared last week a partial mobilization that may see 300,000 reserves called up to fight. The decision has caused protests across the nation, and men of military age are fleeing in droves.
After Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of at least 300,000 men in Russia, a man opened fire on an enlisting center, while another recruitment office has been attacked with Molotov cocktails.
The violence followed a weekend of rallies, rioting, and arrests as Russians resist the president’s mobilization plan.
The assailant opened fire on a military recruitment office in Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk, badly wounding a military recruitment officer.
It depicts the gunman shooting the recruiter at point-blank range, who then falls to the ground as other employees of the draughting office flee the room to the sound of a lady screaming.
In a separate social media video, he identified himself as Ruslan Zinin, 25, who was seized by police.
Additional online footage showed the victim being transported on a stretcher from the premises to an ambulance.
Igor Kobzev, the governor of the Irkutsk region, posted on the Telegram messaging app that the recruitment officer was in critical condition in the hospital and that the detained gunman “will surely be punished.”
It comes only days after the Russian president, in response to a string of defeats in Ukraine, announced a partial mobilization that may see 300,000 reserves called up to fight.
Molotov cocktail attack
A man was captured on social media footage tossing Molotov cocktails at a military registration and enlistment office in Uryupinsk.
It depicts a man driving his vehicle up to the entrance of the local government building in the center of a Russian city.
He is then observed lighting numerous Molotov cocktails and tossing them one by one at the building’s entryway.
Town officials have confirmed that the structure was intentionally set on fire early this morning, and a suspect has been detained. They stated that the damage was limited and nobody was wounded.
As opposition to the conscription intensifies, at least 20 recruitment offices have been destroyed, and men of military age have fled in droves.
Sergei Tsekov, a member of Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, the Federation Council, told the RIA news agency on Monday that every one of conscription age should be prohibited from traveling overseas under the current circumstances.
In its most recent intelligence update, the UK Ministry of Defence stated that Russia faced administrative and logistical hurdles in providing training for recruits.
Numerous tens of thousands of call-up papers have been issued already.
“Many of the draftees will not have had any military experience for several years,” stated the Ministry of Defense.
“The shortage of military trainers coupled with Russia’s hasty mobilization means that many of the conscripted troops will deploy to the front line with insufficient preparation.
They are likely to experience a high rate of attrition.
“Strategy fraught with peril for Putin”
As many residents refused to participate in the conflict, videos have surfaced showing men being pushed onto buses.
In over a dozen Russian cities, protests over mobilization have occurred, and girls as young as 14 have been imprisoned.
Hundreds of people were arrested over the weekend, and yesterday there were significant demonstrations in the Dagestan region.
Alex Rossi, a correspondent for Sky in Moscow, stated, “Russia is a strongly militarised police state.” There have been intermittent rallies across the country, even though dissent is not tolerated. Thousands of people have been detained for opposing what the Kremlin refers to as “partial mobilization,” but what you and I see as “mass conscription.”
The call-up of 300,000 reserves is nearly double the initial invasion force, which “reflects how badly things are going on the battlefield and demonstrates that they have a big personnel issue,” he said.
In a rare admission that things are not proceeding as planned, the Kremlin conceded that errors had been made in its military recruitment and that some incorrect call-ups will be rescinded.
Rossi stated, “It all suggests the weakness of a purported military superpower.”
“There is not yet a significant anti-draft movement, but the longer this situation continues, the higher the likelihood that one will emerge.
This is a high-risk strategy for Vladimir Putin and his government, so it is not surprising that he fought a nationwide draught for so long.
Russian mobilization: Will it make a difference?
The former commander of the Joint Forces Command, General Sir Richard Barrons, warned that some individuals who are mobilized may swiftly find themselves on the front lines in Ukraine.
He stated, “Of course, they wouldn’t be overly enthusiastic about that.” “And they will likely be poorly trained and poorly equipped for this type of mobilization to make a difference.
“Russia would have to invest until far into next year in training and equipping these vast numbers of people. And it does not appear that they have the training equipment, logistics, or weapons to make this a reality any time soon.”
Meanwhile, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church stated that the sins of Russian soldiers who die in battle will be forgiven.
Patriarch Kirill, a key Putin ally who has previously criticized those who oppose the war and urged Russians to rally around the Kremlin, stated that while he hoped the war would “end as soon as possible,” those who enlist in the military and are killed in the line of duty will be viewed as having “committed an act equivalent to sacrifice.”
“They would have made sacrifices for others. “Therefore, we believe that this sacrifice washes away all of a person’s sins,” he stated in his first sermon on a Sunday following the mobilization order.
As Russia increases its conscription of civilians, the Ukrainian president has asked opposition troops to surrender to his country’s army.
President Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met unannounced in the southern Russian resort of Sochi on Monday and expressed their willingness to collaborate with the West “provided they treat us with respect.”
“False” referendums
It comes as “sham” referendums continue in contested territory, which could lead to Ukraine’s territory being formally annexed.
They are being held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) People’s Republics, as well as in Russian-occupied districts of Kherson and Zaporizhia.
The action comes eight years after a similar one in Russian-occupied Crimea, which Moscow claimed justified the peninsula’s annexation.
Deborah Haynes, Sky’s security and defense editor in Dnipro, Ukraine, described the move as “a further escalation of the battle.”
She continued, “There is no indication on the Ukrainian side that they are retreating, but they will have to confront an ever-increasing Russian force to defend their area and reclaim lost ground.”
