As Russia faces a protracted conflict in Ukraine and Donbas, Russian President Vladimir Putin used his address to the nation on Wednesday morning to announce a partial military mobilization in the country that will draw military reservists into active service.
The initial proposal for the mobilization was made by the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to protect Russian sovereignty and territorial integrity and to ensure the security of Russian citizens and people in the liberated territories.
Putin announced that the decree on partial mobilization has already been signed and that efforts to begin the mobilization will begin today, noting the inevitability of a new large-scale offensive in the Donbas after the Kyiv regime publicly refused a peaceful solution and announced its claim to nuclear weapons.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu explained later that Russia will mobilize around 300,000 reservists, stressing that the call will not apply to university students, nor to conscripts, but only to people who have already served in the military and have a military specialty and military experience.
Emphasizing that Russia could summon almost 25 million people with some military experience, Shoigu noted that this partial mobilization is just 1% or a bit more of Russia’s immense mobilization capability.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the announced mobilization as well as the announced plans for referendums in the occupied Ukrainian territories to blast the Russian President’s, as he called it, utter contempt and disdain for the UN displayed while the UNGA is happening.
Blinken pointed out, it is a sign of violent aggression by Russia toward the principles of the UN, for the General Assembly, and for the United Nations Charter.