Kremlin officials fear new mobilization, seek ways to move relatives and assets
Read NV on Google
Fears of a new wave of mobilization are also spreading among Kremlin officials, Bloomberg reports. (Photo: Sputnik/Kirill Zykov)
Fears are growing among Russians that Russian dictator
Vladimir Putin could announce a new
large-scale mobilization for the war against Ukraine after elections to
Russia’s State Duma, with concerns also spreading among members of the Russian
elite, Bloomberg
reported on Sept. 18.
Kremlin officials are urging friends and relatives to leave
Russia and looking for ways to open bank accounts abroad and transfer assets
there, Bloomberg reported, citing documents it obtained. Staff at army
recruiting offices are doing the same.
Putin denies preparations for a new wave of mobilization,
but Russia plans to call up another 300,000 people by the end of the year, a
European security official told Bloomberg.
Unlike in September 2022, however, there may be no official
mobilization announcement. Thousands of Russians fled the country at the time,
Bloomberg noted. Since then, the Kremlin has created digital infrastructure for
military call-ups while closing off potential routes out of the country.
Russia is also reorganizing its military enlistment offices
to handle the planned increase in the number of people being called up, said
the European official, who requested anonymity.
The full-scale war against Ukraine is now in its fifth year,
and Russia’s pool of volunteers for its occupation forces is beginning to run
out, Bloomberg reported. Russian battlefield losses now stand at about 1,000
killed per week, a well-informed source in Moscow told the agency. The Russian
military needs more manpower, while the “quality” of those signing contracts
with the Defense Ministry is extremely low, the source said.
European officials said Putin has not yet made a final
decision on mobilization. The Kremlin remembers the public backlash against the
2022 call-up.
According to the General
Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of the morning of Sept. 18,
Ukrainian forces killed another 1,420 Russian troops over the previous day.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Russian military has lost
about 1,514,910 service members.
Plans for mobilization in Russia — latest developments
On Aug. 8, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said dictator
Vladimir Putin was looking for a way to carry out covert mobilization in Russia
without officially announcing it.
On Aug. 11, Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing a wave of
mobilization for fall 2026, immediately after the “imitation of parliamentary
elections,” citing internal Russian documents obtained by Ukrainian
intelligence.
On Aug. 23, Zelenskyy said the Kremlin would seek to carry
out a new wave of mobilization primarily in Russia’s regions after the State
Duma elections. Russia’s plan for 2026 calls for the additional mobilization of
about 300,000 people.
On Aug. 24, The Moscow Times reported that residents of at
least 17 Russian regions had complained over the previous six weeks of
detentions and forced mobilization. Journalists concluded that covert
mobilization in Russia was becoming increasingly widespread.
On Aug. 27, Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian
authorities were preparing for another large-scale mobilization in 2026–2027:
Moscow plans to call up about 600,000 people, or 300,000 each year.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
