Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted this claim, but as of late December numerous military analysts and media outlets maintain that mobilization continues to take place in Russia.

[19] On 19 February 2022, general mobilization began in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR), which at that time were not recognized by any sovereign state, including Russia.

Recruits without training and combat experience found themselves on the front lines without adequate supplies: the units lacked uniforms, weapons, food, and medicines.

Human rights activists reported a huge death toll among mobilized recruits in clashes with the better-trained Ukrainian military – up to 30,000 as of August 2022.

[24] After Ukrainian counteroffensives in September 2022, Putin came under increasing pressure from Russian ultra-nationalists and pro-war activists such as Igor Girkin and Alexander Kots, who called for full mobilization and all-out war against Ukraine.

[31][32] Around June and July 2022, local authorities of the federal subjects of Russia were tasked with doing a recruitment campaign to form new military formations, in what was called a "covert mobilization".

[44] In his address to the Russian audience, Putin demonized the "Nazi" West and claimed that the Ukrainian government was sending soldiers to the front lines as "cannon fodder".

[3] The banned opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, operating in exile, reported on 22 September 2022, that the classified point 7 gives the Defense Department permission to mobilize up to one million men.

[62][63] According to Putin's televised address, "only citizens who are currently in the reserve and, above all, those who served in the armed forces, have certain military specialties and relevant experience" would be subject to conscription.

Lawyer and head of the human rights group Agora, Pavel Chikov, expressed doubts about the decree; stating that the Russian Ministry of Defense in fact would decide who, from where and what quantity of soldiers to send to war.

"[73] Mikhail Degtyarev, the governor of Khabarovsk Krai, said that "About half of [the mobilized men] we returned home as they did not meet the selection criteria for entering the military service.

"[74] In a video published by the independent news website The Insider, recently mobilized Russian soldiers complained of "inhumane" conditions, weapons shortages and mistreatment by officers.

According to Renata Zhiltsova, who received a summons from a military enlistment office in the Siberian city of Omsk, "I wasn't the only woman doctor whom they wanted to send to war.

Residents of the region started a petition proposing to remove Degtyarev from the post of governor and send him to fight in Ukraine, which was signed by several tens of thousands of people.

[110] Putin loyalist Dmitry Vyatkin, who authored a number of restrictive bills, said in a speech that deputies should not give up their mandate and go to fight at the front, because they have the duty and responsibility to take care of the citizens of Russia and solve domestic problems.

[110] Yevgeny Prigozhin called members of the Russian parliament "useless" and said that the "deputies should go to the front", adding that "those people who have been talking from tribunes for years need to start doing something.

[115] Russian opposition politician Emilia Slabunova, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia, wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin urging him to officially declare the end of mobilization.

Vladimir Solovyov had previously encouraged every able-bodied Russian man to volunteer for service and go fight in the war in Ukraine, and condemned young people who tried to avoid mobilization.

[112] On 4 October 2022, a video appeared of a man in front of a group of soldiers from Omsk Oblast voicing concern to the military leadership, primarily about payment to support their families while they were away at war.

[117][118] On 16 November 2022, Vadim Boyko, a Colonel and director of Vladivostok's Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School who was responsible for mobilization efforts committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest five times in his office.

Among them are Agora, Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, Conscript's School, Movement of Conscious Objectors from Military Service, Call to Conscience, Citizen and Army.

[133] On 27 September 2022, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre encouraged Russian men trying to escape being called up to fight in Ukraine to apply for asylum in the United States.

[139] Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported that military courts have received thousands of AWOL cases since Russia's 2022 mobilization.

People gathered in osuokhay [ru], a traditional round dance symbolizing the blessing of mothers for the safe return of their husbands and sons.

[159] On 15 October 2022, relatives of men drafted from the Bryansk Oblast released a video appeal to Vladimir Putin, asking him to intervene to bring their sons and husbands back home.

[160] On 31 May 2024, Russia’s Justice Ministry added the women's organization Put’ Domoi (The Way Home), a group of wives, mothers and sisters of soldiers who campaign for the return of mobilized men from Ukraine, to the list of so-called ‘foreign agents’.

[174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181] On 26 September, during a meeting with recently mobilized recruits in Ust-Ilimsk (Irkutsk Oblast), a man opened fire at the head of the draft board, who ended up in intensive care.

"[188][189] Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, called the decision on partial mobilization a "complex program for the disposal of Russians.

[116] Government representatives and diplomats from European countries and the United States described Putin's decision to mobilize as a sign of Russia's failure in the war with Ukraine, a step toward escalation, and an indication of panic in the Russian leadership.

"[221] Gustaf Gressel, a senior policy fellow at the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that "My gut feeling is that Putin doesn't really care about the inferior quality [of new troops being assembled].