By the end of October, Putin promised that the partial mobilization would be over and that no more recruits would be drafted. Thousands of Russians doubt this and are demanding an official decree. Once again, only verbal assurance came from the Kremlin.
The Kremlin has countered fears among the Russian population that a second wave of reservists may be mobilized for the war against Ukraine. There are “no discussions” about this in the Kremlin, said spokesman Dmitry Peskov at noon, according to Russian news agencies. According to its own statements, Russia had completed the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine at the end of October. Around 82,000 of the men were already deployed at the front at the beginning of November, and the rest were to be prepared for battle in Russia. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said back then that no new mobilization measures were planned.
The mobilization had triggered a real mass panic in Russia, hundreds of thousands of people fled – at least temporarily – abroad. Many of them traveled to the neighboring countries of Kazakhstan and Georgia. Others went into hiding in their own country to avoid being drafted into the armed forces. Despite official denials by the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry, fears of another wave of mobilization in Russia are high. The fact that many people do not trust the Kremlin’s information is probably also due to the fact that there has always been chaos during the mobilization to date. Several cases have been documented in which men were drafted despite health problems.
In Russia, thousands of Russians had recently called for an official end to recruitment on various platforms. Sixteen anti-war groups in Russia started a corresponding petition. On October 31, President Vladimir Putin announced that the mobilization was over. However, he has refrained from signing a decree about an official end, it says here. “Meanwhile, the Russians are still receiving summonses.” The signers are concerned that the president’s statement offers no guarantees to Russian citizens until it is documented, lawyers and human rights activists say. “Our loved ones, relatives, sons, husbands, brothers are still in danger.”