SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
It's not a war, but a Special Military Operation. And that operation goes so well, it is now time not to call a general mobilisation, but only a partial mobilisation.
On Wednesday September 21, at 09:15h, Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement that was rumored since days: all members of the Russian Army's reserve, as well as anybody who has ever served in the Russian military, are called upon to do their duty in the Special Military Operation, fighting the Nazi-Ukrainian forces.
Refusing to report will result in 15 years prison. Skipping out during service will result in 15 years prison. And surrendering to the enemy without being incapacitated will result in 15 years prison, as will not trying to flee from a POW camp.
The move is not unexpected. The Ukrainian counter-offensive triggered the first comments on Russian television about the need for mobilisation, and it was just waiting until Russian regional elections had passed, last week. On top of that, the recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation didn't go to plan, apparently.
First there was India's Modi publicly stating that this ain't a time for war, and that he had repeatedly asked to stop the whole thing. Then there was a falling out over the same subject with both Turkey and Kazakhstan, to which Putin apparently reacted very agressively. All combined might perhaps explain the rather confused press conference afterwards.
Immediately after the end of the SCO Summit, one Nikolai Patrushev stepped on a plane to meet with Chinese colleagues to discuss strategic stability and public security and law and order. He returned after 2 days, on the 19th. On the 20th, a statement by Putin was announced for the evening, but that was postponed for reasons unknown.
In a first phase, 300,000 reservists are being called up but, as Russia's Kommersant business newspaper noted, the total number of people who will be called up is secret, hence open to modification.
Do I need to add that it all ended with the threat to use nuclear weapons?
Official announcement here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2022, @07:51PM
The thuggery was absolutely non-exceptional compared to common run-of-the-mill gangs in Russia, Ukraine, and in late USSR before that. So, some gangs used nationality as an excuse to beat and rob people; what a non-thing, a lot of gangs in larger cities used your being from a "wrong" district as an excuse for same. still others used your wearing a "wrong" clothing or accessories or hairstyle. Gangs are gangs are gangs, gang wars are what gangs do for fun, and upgrading a gang war into an international conflict is entirely Putin's doing.
As to how "older Russians view Ukraine", HOW was it relevant to anything when those Russians could freely travel to Ukraine through the nonexistent border anytime they wanted to? Some of Russia's internal passenger train routes even went part of their way through Ukraine.
For common people, the pre-2014 arrangement was like, say, Germany and Switzerland are now. The ONLY creatures displeased with that, were the politicians and their pet gangsters. The rest is history. :(