[Skybird]

Der Tagesspiegel writes:


In the Russian mobilization decree there is apparently a secret seventh point, according to which the Ministry of Defense is allowed to call up one million people. This had been reported by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, citing sources in the presidential administration. This point is missing from the published version of the decree and was classified as "For official use only." Point six is followed instead by point eight in the publicly available decree.

Such a clause would contradict statements made by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday. The latter had said after President Vladimir Putin's televised address that only 300,000 "combat-experienced" reservists would be called up.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday called the report a "lie" when asked, but confirmed that the secret point of the decree was about the number of reservists who could be called up for military service. "The only thing I can say is what Sergei Shoigu said: We are talking about the number of up to 300,000 people," Peskov said.

Novaya Gazeta further reports that the issue of classifying the entire decree as classified was initially discussed in the Kremlin. Later, however, it was decided to block only the seventh item.

The U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) now reports that even the promise to draft only "combat-experienced" reservists is not being kept. For example, according to the ISW, the Russian opposition claims that an IT specialist was drafted even though he had never done military service. Students and men over 50 are also said to be affected. Shoigu had explicitly ruled out that the former would be drafted.

According to ISW, there are reports from two Russian regions, the Republic of Sakha and Kursk Oblast, that reservists are forbidden to leave their place of residence. Novaya Gazeta even reports at least four Russian regions where military commissariats have signed such orders.

The first Russian reservists had already been contacted on the day the partial mobilization was announced. According to the Russian military, even within 24 hours about 10,000 people volunteered to fight in Ukraine.

They had come to the recruiting offices voluntarily and without waiting for the summons, a military spokesman told the Russian news agency Interfax on Thursday. However, it is not possible to independently verify the veracity of the Russian statements.

Other Russians are being forced into military service as punishment: Reuters news agency reports, for example, that some of the more than 1,300 arrested during protests against the partial mobilization had received conscription notices while still in police custody. Russian civil rights organization OVG-Info reported cases from 15 police stations. Kremlin spokesman Peskov described this procedure as legal on Thursday.