MOSCOW — Seething with anger, Russian beautician
Tatyana describes the Kremlin's military mobilization as "complete
horror."
اضافة اعلان
In early October her young nephew was called up in the town
of Krasnogorsk northwest of Moscow as part of the Kremlin's drive to prop up Russian
forces fighting in Ukraine. The family, she said, had to buy everything from
clothing to a first aid kit for him at its own expense.
"They had to purchase everything themselves, they
bought a uniform, thermal underwear, medicines, and food," 40-year-old
Tatyana, who refused to give her last name for fear of reprisals, told
AFP.
"When they arrived, no one was waiting for them, and
nothing was organized."
On September 21, Putin announced the start of a
"partial" military mobilization, the country's first enlistment since
World War II.
In late October, the defense ministry announced the draft's
completion, saying that 300,000 reservists had been called up.
Kremlin critics say Moscow's chaotic mobilization drive has
shed a harsh light on a litany of problems the Russian army faces including
logistical and supply challenges, mismanagement and corruption.
Tatyana said she had the impression that the decision to
conduct mobilization had been taken suddenly and caught even officials by
surprise. Many men were barely trained before being dispatched to the
front.
"Everything they say on TV about the mobilization is
just a show for the general population, in reality things are very sad,"
she said.
Anna, who lives in the town of Ivanteyevka located some 20 kilometers
northeast of Moscow and was born in Ukraine, is still stunned by the mobilization
of her son-in-law.
"Our relatives are being bombed in Dnipro and he will
have to go and kill people in our native country," she said with tears in
her eyes.
The 51-year-old hairdresser said her son-in-law was
"against the war."
"But he has no choice: it is either going to the front
or prison," she told AFP, also declining to give her last name.
Shortly before the announcement of the
call-up, Russia's parliament approved amendments toughening penalties for
military crimes in times of mobilization, and those refusing to fight can face
up to ten years in prison.
Anna said that her son-in-law had spent nearly 100,000
rubles (more 1,600 euros), or seven times the Russian minimum wage, to buy a
bulletproof vest, a uniform, warm clothes, and boots, among other things.
Calls for donations spread through social media as users
asked for help to buy basic equipment for newly-drafted troops.
Untrained guys thrown into front line
The extent of the problems during the military mobilization
has been such that even pro-Kremlin journalists sounded the alarm.
Several journalists wrote on social media that a number of
newly-drafted men from Moscow and the surrounding region were sent to Ukraine
as part of the 27th motorized rifle brigade without receiving any proper
training. The unit suffered heavy losses.
"Some commanders on the ground need to be shot,"
one of the journalists, Anastasia Kashevarova, wrote on messaging app Telegram.
"As the result of the mobilization, untrained guys have
been thrown onto the front line."
Kashevarova said the newly-drafted men underwent just two
days of training between September 23 and October 3.
Deployed to the region of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine
"they found themselves under crossfire from their own artillery and that
of the enemy", Kashevarova wrote in one of the posts, describing the
situation as "hell." The post was later deleted.
A relative of one of the survivors confirmed the account to
AFP.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, questioned by AFP during a
press briefing, said the Kremlin would look into the report.
An investigation has been launched by military prosecutors.
Among the dead of the 27th motorized rifle brigade was Timur
Izmailov, a 33-year-old IT expert and employee of Austria's Raiffeisen Bank in
Russia.
Izmailov should have been exempted from service in the army
but was instead drafted on September 23. He was sent to the front on October 7
and was killed by mortar fire on October 13, his lawyer Konstantin Yerokhin
said on Telegram. "I have no words," he added.
The IT specialist had been sent to the front because the
military commissariat had not received in time a list of bank employees
exempt from mobilization drawn up by the Central Bank, said Yerokhin.
They won't stop
The Kremlin has admitted "errors" in the course of
the mobilization which has seen men suffering from serious illnesses or fathers
of several young children drafted.
Peskov said authorities were taking "robust measures to
correct the situation" and that the "first positive results"
could already be seen.
The head of the defense committee at parliament's lower
house, Andrei Kartapolov, said that nearly 10,000 men mobilized by mistake had
been sent home.
The bungled mobilization accelerated an exodus of draft-age
men from Russia, and many believe more will be called up in the near
future.
"I am sure they won't stop," Andrei, a 45-year-old
translator who refused to give his last name, told AFP.
"They will let us celebrate the New Year's and then we
will see a new wave of mobilization."
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