Page 4 - bne monthly magazine October 2022

4 I Companies & Markets bne October 2022
St Petersburg, Russia - September 21 2022: Mass detentions by security forces of protesters against mobilization in Russia. www.shutterstock.com
Protests and sold out flights follow Putin’s mobilisation
bne IntelliNews
Rallies against the partial mobilisation announced
by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21 took place in 38 Russian cities, according to Kommersant, with over 1,300 people detained, including 490 in St Petersburg, 468 in Moscow and 40 in Yekaterinburg.
Putin escalated the war in Ukraine by announcing partial mobilisation amid a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive that swept Russian forces out of the Kharkiv region and retook villages in the Luhansk region, which had been fully occupied by Russia.
While Putin called the mobilisation “partial” and the Ministry of Defence clarified that about 300,000 people are ready for
a military call up, lawyers surveyed by The Bell and Meduza warned that the law spearheaded to regulate the emergency draft is phrased in broad terms and allows for indiscriminate military recruitment.
Those eligible for the draft can also be banned from leaving their respective Russian regions. Draft dodging during the period of "mobilisation or martial law" is now punishable by five to 10 years in prison.
www.bne.eu
Spokeswoman of the Russian interior ministry Irina Volk described the rallies as unsanctioned and gathering an "extremely insignificant number of participants", as cited by Kommersant.
bne IntelliNews covered how shortly after the military invasion of Ukraine in February a barrage of repressive laws tightened the Kremlin's grip on the media landscape and penalised public protest.
But the amendments regulating the call-up, passed swiftly prior to Putin’s speech, toughen the penalties for protests even more. One known criminal case has been reported, while videos of unconscious protesters being carried away by riot police circulated on social media.
Russians flee conscription
In less than a day after Putin’s announcement, the prices of flights for the few remaining visa-free destinations such as Dubai, Yerevan, Astana and Istanbul have soared 10-15 fold and have been sold out, according to reports by Kommersant and Vedomosti dailies.