Putin’s Press-Gangs Raiding Cafes, Offices for Fresh Cannon Fodder in Ukraine

Russia is so desperate for soldiers to prosecute its war in Ukraine that police and military press-gangs are reportedly raiding businesses where young men might gather and dragging off dozens of conscripts against their wishes.The Washington Post reported Sunday that the gangs have appeared unannounced at metro stations, cafes, office blocks, and even homeless shelters to secure enough fighters to meet President Putin’s goal of putting 300,000 more soldiers on the front in the coming weeks.That the raids are occurring in major cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg, which have been largely spared from the war’s reality, is seen as an indication of Mr. Putin’s increasing desperation. To date, most of those drafted to serve in Ukraine have been young men from poor, rural areas of Russia and neighboring states of the former Soviet Union.Saturday, two recruits from one of those states opened fire on volunteers at a military training ground in the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The pair killed 11 soldiers and wounded 15 others before being killed themselves. The ministry called the incident a “terrorist attack.”“During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation [against Ukraine], the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit,” a statement from the defense ministry said.The mobilization demanded by Mr. Putin last month to blunt recent Ukrainian gains on the battlefield has so far netted 220,000 of the 300,000 soldiers he initially said would be needed. He promised that the effort would be wrapped up in the next two weeks. Hard-line television pundits have been calling for even more call-ups, saying Russian men have become too soft.Even though the Russian leader declared that only people who had recently served in the military would be subject to the call-up, activists and rights groups reported military conscription offices rounding up people without any army experience — some of whom were also unfit for service for medical reasons.Some of the freshly called-up reservists posted videos of themselves being forced to sleep on the floor or even outside and given rusty weapons before being sent to the front lines.Russian media reports said some of those who were mobilized were sent to combat without receiving proper training and were quickly killed.To avoid being drafted to fight in a war that is becoming increasingly unpopular at home, some 300,000 Russian men and their families have fled the country since Mr. Putin announced the mobilization. The anti-war sentiments have been exacerbated by the bodies of recruits rounded up early in the effort beginning to return to Moscow.In what the Post said was a sign of growing urban unrest over the raids in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Andrei Klishas, a senior member of Putin’s United Russia party, said Friday that the conscription drives were illegal.“It is inadmissible to grab everyone on the street indiscriminately,” he said.

Putin’s Press-Gangs Raiding Cafes, Offices for Fresh Cannon Fodder in Ukraine

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