1,300 Citizens Arrested after Putin’s Mobilisation Announcement Sparks Protests in Russia
Yurii Sheliazhenko / World BEYOND War & Reuters & NoDraft
KYIV, Ukraine (September 21, 2022) — Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare televised address to the Russian people on Wednesday morning when he announced a “partial mobilization,” saying the measure was needed to protect Russian people from what he called “the entire war machine of the collective West” in Ukraine.
Many in Russia fear a “partial mobilization” of the military is the first step in a move that would see more and more men fight — and die — in Ukraine. Some have tried to escape and others have even dared to protest.
More than 1,300 Detained in Anti-mobilisation Protests across Russia
LONDON (September 21 2022) — Security forces detained more than 1,300 people in Russia on Wednesday at protests denouncing mobilisation, a rights group said, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s first military draft since World War Two.
The independent OVD-Info protest monitoring group said that according to information it had collated from 38 Russian cities, more than 1,311 people had been held by late evening.
It said those figures included at least 502 in Moscow and 524 in St Petersburg, Russia’s second most populous city.
Unsanctioned rallies are illegal under Russia’s anti-protest laws.
Russian Interior Ministry official Irina Volk, in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, said officers had cut short attempts to stage what it called small protests.
“In a number of regions, there were attempts to stage unauthorised actions which brought together an extremely small number of participants,” Volk was quoted as saying.
“These were all stopped. And those persons who violated laws were detained and taken to police stations for investigation and establish their responsibility.”
One-way flights out of Russia were rocketing in price and selling out fast on Wednesday after Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists.
Checking departures at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport .
Flights Out of Russia Sell Out
After Putin Orders Partial Call-up
GDANSK (September 21, 2022) — One-way flights out of Russia were rocketing in price and selling out fast on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists.
Putin’s announcement, made in an early-morning television address, raised fears that some men of fighting age would not be allowed to leave the country.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the call-up would be limited to those with experience as professional soldiers, and that students and conscripts would not be called up.
The Kremlin declined to comment on whether the borders would be closed to those subject to the mobilisation order, and asked people to be patient as the law is clarified.
Meanwhile, Google Trends data showed a spike in searches for Aviasales, Russia’s most popular flight-booking site.
Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia, both destinations that allow Russians to enter without a visa, were sold out on Wednesday, according to Aviasales data.
Flights from Moscow to Istanbul via Turkish Airlines were either all booked or unavailable until Sunday, as of 1415 Moscow time (1115 GMT).
Some routes with stopovers, including those from Moscow to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, were also unavailable, while the cheapest flights to Dubai cost more than 300,000 roubles ($5,000) — about five times the average monthly wage.
Typical one-way fares to Turkey shot up to almost 70,000 roubles ($1,150), compared with a little over 22,000 roubles a week ago, Google Flights data shows.
The head of Russia’s tourism agency said no restrictions have been imposed on travelling abroad so far.
A tourism industry source also told Reuters that demand for plane tickets from Russia for the visa-free countries has jumped.
“It was possible to buy a one-way ticket in the morning for 200,000 roubles to 300,000 roubles, but not anymore,” the source said.
“That’s a panic demand from people, who are afraid that they won’t be able to leave the country afterwards.”
Aeroflot, the country’s flag-carrying airline, said it was not limiting ticket sales.
($1 = 60.9500 roubles)
The Death of the Draft. Militarism Falters
Edward Hasbrouck / NoDraft
(September 18, 2022) —Michael Wehle (a public non-registrant for the US draft in the 1980s) points out some interesting recent reports from Germany.
• Recruiting for the German Military Falling Short of Goals:
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/bundeswehr-trotz-sondervermoegen-in-schlechter-verfassung-18318121.html
• The Defense Minister (a woman from the Social Democratic Party) says that, despite failures to meet recruiting goals, there’s no point to discussing reinstating the draft — because it would take too long to train draftees for any use in relation to the war in Ukraine:
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/bundeswehr-trotz-sondervermoegen-in-schlechter-verfassung-18318121.html
• Meanwhile, applications for discharge from the German military on grounds of conscientious objection have more than tripled from 2021 to 2022:
https://www.rnd.de/politik/die-bundeswehr-hat-schwierigkeiten-nachwuchs-zu-gewinnen-RXUEER7MEFGAJM5UOY54X7Q5AY.html
• Many applicants for discharge say they never expected an actual war:
https://www.rnd.de/politik/bundeswehr-immer-mehr-soldaten-verweigern-den-dienst-DL4OO2GQ3K5G7M6ZT6MBZ6TUXE.html
Resources
• Draft Registration and Draft Resistance:
https://Resisters.info
• Support the Selective Service Repeal Act (H.R. 2509 / S.
1139):
https://hasbrouck.org/draft/repeal.html
• “Resistance News” mailing list:
https://resisters.info/newsletter.html
• ResistersInfo on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/resistersinfo
• Edward Hasbrouck
edward@hasbrouck.org
https://hasbrouck.org
