The Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, announced this Friday the end of the partial mobilization decreed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in the midst of the war in Ukraine after recruiting some 300,000 people.
“The dispatch of citizens summoned for mobilization has been completed today. The notification of citizens has stopped. No additional tasks are planned,” the Russian Defense Minister informed the president during a meeting, as reported by the news agency interface.
According to data provided by Shoigu, some 82,000 Russians have been mobilized to the Ukrainian front. Russia will continue to recruit troops only by accepting volunteers and candidates for military service under contract.
As part of the “partial mobilization,” Russia has recruited more than 1,300 representatives of the executive powers at various levels, while 27,000 of the total recruits — with an average age of 35 — would be businessmen.
Shoigu stressed that “problems with the supply and allocation of conscripted citizens that arose at the initial stage of partial mobilization in Russia have been resolved,” according to the TASS news agency.
On September 21, Putin signed a decree for “partial mobilization” in the country in order to recruit at least 300,000 citizens to fight in the war with its neighboring country, which began at the end of February.
The Russian president framed the decision arguing that they were “necessary and urgent measures to protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Russia” and warned that Moscow would use “all means” in the event of a “threat to Russian territorial integrity”. . “It’s not a bluff,” he maintained.
The “partial mobilization” provoked demonstrations in Moscow, as well as in other Russian cities such as Saint Petersburg, while the Prosecutor’s Office warned potential attendees of these marches that they could be committing a crime.
Specifically, according to the count prepared by the OVD organization, which advocates for civil rights in Russia and which denounced cases of alleged police abuse and incommunicado detention in the context of the protests, more than 1,300 demonstrators were arrested during the first day, between them minors and journalists.
The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, appealed in a speech to the Russian citizens to protest the decision in the streets of the different cities of the country. For his part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Russian authorities to respect the right of protesters in the face of increased police violence.
