Page 30 - RusRPTOct22

2.14 Politics - misc
In an effort to move additional manpower to the front in the Ukraine war, president Vladimir Putin declared a “partial mobilisation” on September 21. The decree requires persons in the reserves with previous military training and necessary skills to report to mustering centres. While defence minister Sergei Shoigu stated publicly that the goal of the mobilisation was to recruit 300,000 soldiers, the public part of the decree itself contains no numbers on troops. Media reports suggest that the government’s goal is to boost Russia’s active military by 1 million in three waves by the end of this year.
The manpower quotas applied to some Russian regions are so large that they require recruitment of individuals who have never performed military service or received relevant training. It further appears that some of the first wave of recruits have already been sent to the front. About 200,000 Russians have already left Russia to avoid conscription. Popular destinations include Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan. Slightly over 60,000 Russians entered Finland via its eastern borders between September 21 and 29. Daily border entries were up by about 90 % from pre-mobilisation levels. During the same period, about 32,000 Russians returned to their home country.
Russia’s mobilisation can have also important economic implications. If the country mobilises, say, 1 million men by the end of this year, and another 300,000 leave the country by then, it would remove roughly 7 % of Russia’s 20‒39-year-old men from the labour pool. Many firms have asked officials to exempt or defer the conscription of their employees.
About 700,000 people have fled Russia after the announcement of the “partial” mobilisation, Forbes reported citing unnamed sources in the Kremlin. Over 200,000 people have been mobilised so far, according to the October 4 announcement of the Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. As covered by bne IntelliNews, companies are scrambling to protect their staff from mobilisation announced by Vladimir Putin as he escalated the war in Ukraine, and the consequences for the labour market are yet hard to predict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree officially forbidding Ukraine from negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported on October 4. The decree comes after Putin announced the annexation of four occupied territories in Ukraine, which has been widely recognised as illegitimate, even by Russian allies such as Serbia. In response, Zelenskiy stated that Kyiv is ready for dialogue with Moscow “but with another president of Russia”. The National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine drafted the decree which states “the impossibility of conducting negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin”.
30 RUSSIA Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com