Videos on social media show that the first stage of partial Russian mobilization is underway in several regions of Russia, especially in the Caucasus and the Russian Far East.
Telegram videos show a newly mobilized group of men waiting for transport, purportedly in Amginskiy Uliss in the Yakutiya region, a vast exclave of Siberia – where the caption on one video reads: “50 mobilized people will go to the special operations area.”
Another shows a group of about 100 newly mobilized soldiers waiting at Magadan airport in the Russian Far East, next to a transport plane. The group received instructions on no-smoking and other rules inside the plane and was warned it would be cold inside and there were no toilets on board.
Still in Russia’s Far East, in the city of Neryungri, a community video channel posted videos of families saying goodbye to a group of men as they boarded a bus. The video shows a woman crying and hugging her husband goodbye, while he reaches for her daughter’s hand from the bus window.
Neryungri is six time zones east of Ukraine.
CNN has been unable to geo-locate or date all of the videos posted independently.
The Republic of Buryatia has provided hundreds of volunteers to the conflict in Ukraine. Central Asia may be about to send more. According to a community Telegram channel called The People of Baikal, “they can mobilize up to 6-7 thousand people in Buryatia. The authorities do not give exact numbers.”
“Bus with mobilized people are coming to Ulan-Ude [Buryatia’s capital] in the morning. The men were taken to the Military Commission’s gathering point…,” it said.
The channel, which has just under 5,000 subscribers, describes itself as independent. It quoted a local official as saying, “we were verbally ordered to lift the mobilized people from their beds, put them in cars and immediately take them to the registration and enlistment office.” .”
The channel’s report could not be verified.
In Dagestan in the Caucasus, a furious argument broke out at an enlistment office, according to a video. One woman said her son had been fighting since February. Told by a man that she shouldn’t have sent him, she replied, “Your grandfather fought so you could live,” the man replied, “It was war then, now it’s war. politics.”
Near the Ukrainian border, a crowd gathered near the city of Belgorod to see off a bunch of newly mobilized people. As they boarded the bus, a young boy shouted, “Goodbye, Dad!” and started crying.
Other moves are underway to increase troop numbers.
According to Russian news agency TASS, the Russian Human Rights Council has proposed that immigrants from Central Asian countries who have obtained Russian citizenship for less than 10 years will be required to perform compulsory military service in Russia for one year, according to the Russian news agency TASS. Russian news agency TASS.
