Free Republic

Russia is ready to introduce electronic military draft papers for the first time in its history in an effort to make it harder for men to avoid being drafted after the lower house of parliament gave its backing to the move. The State Duma, the lower chamber, gave its backing to the necessary legislation in two separate votes. Some lawmakers complained the changes were being rushed through without giving them enough time to scrutinise the changes. -snip- NO SECOND MOBILISATION Peskov dismissed suggestions that the digitalisation plans might spark a further wave of panic and emigration among young male Russians...

Putin’s partial mobilization continues to look like a disaster. There are reports that some of the new recruits are being sent to the front lines in Ukraine with little or no training or equipment. Mobilized soldiers and their families provide their own equipment and even medical supplies before they ship out.A half-dozen Russian soldiers talk about being shipped to an area of intense fighting in eastern Ukraine just 11 days after their mobilization. Asked about his shooting practice, a bearded conscript says, “Once. Three magazines.”…Elsewhere, scores of relatives of freshly drafted Russian soldiers crowd outside a training center, passing items...

Some Chinese nationals still in Ukraine have signed up for evacuation from the country, with most registering for organized evacuations, while others are preparing to leave Ukraine on their own, the Global Times learned on Sunday, after the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged Chinese citizens to leave Ukraine, citing the grave security situation. The move, following the large-scale evacuation in March that safely returned some 6,000 Chinese nationals in Ukraine back to their motherland, represents the Chinese government's greatest efforts to protect its citizens, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict further escalated, experts noted. As of press time on Sunday, 161 people had...

Russian lawmakers have proposed a bill that would allow the granting of amnesties to prisoners enlisting to fight in Ukraine, according to Senator Olga Kovitidi on Thursday. "If a convict shows courage and heroism while performing military duty … the court may release him from serving his sentence … or commute the remainder of the sentence to a milder one,” Kovitidi said in a post on Telegram. According to Kovitidi, the measures wouldn’t apply to those convicted of such recently-legislated crimes as "discrediting" or "spreading false information about" Russia’s armed forces, or for calling for sanctions against the country. People...

Translated from Russian via Google Translate:The Russian-Ukrainian war once again demonstrated that, despite new-fashioned concepts and modern weapons, the old military truths are still true. In particular, the size of the army remains important. This truth should be understood correctly. This does not mean that whoever has more army won - it would be too easy. This means that to perform a task you need to have enough quantity for such a task, not just quality. Marshal Jacques d'Etamp' saying "God is always on the side of large battalions" does not cancel the proverb "Hope in God, but don't do...

Russian authorities are mobilizing men from the country’s most vulnerable groups to send to the front in Ukraine, the independent Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. In Moscow, security officers have taken men to military enlistment centers from charity centers for the homeless and needy as well as hostels where labor migrants live, Mediazona reported. The Food Not Bombs group, which hands out food to Moscow’s homeless community, told Mediazona that it has seen dozens of homeless men taken off the street and brought to military enlistment offices in the weeks since President Vladimir Putin declared a “partial” mobilization. “The police...

In the seven months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the other former Soviet states have been adhering to a set of unwritten rules. Moscow realized that putting excessive pressure on its neighbors could destabilize the region, and therefore refrained from making too many demands of them. They were not required, for example, to recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, or express support for the “special operation”: it was enough to remain neutral. The main condition was to not supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition (Kazakhstan suspended all of its weapons exports, just to be on the safe side)....

Recently mobilized Russian soldiers are decrying "inhumane" conditions, weapons shortages and mistreatment by officers, according to video published by the independent news website The Insider on Wednesday. Footage of new recruits sleeping on the floor, being armed with outdated rifles and ordered to source their own supplies appeared almost immediately after President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization last month. Around 500 troops gathered in western Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border with no training and no knowledge of where they were being deployed, the latest video’s authors said. “Nobody needs us,” a voice behind the camera, flanked by...

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that "all mistakes" made in a call-up to reinforce Russia's military operation in Ukraine should be corrected, his first public acknowledgment that the "partial mobilisation" he announced last week had not gone smoothly. There have been widespread public expressions of discontent from officials and citizens over the way the mobilisation has been handled, including complaints about enlistment officers sending call-up papers to clearly ineligible men. Thousands of men have fled Russia to avoid a draft that was billed as enlisting those with military experience and required specialities but has often appeared oblivious to individuals'...

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Moscow did everything it could to maintain its status as a superpower — including as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. When it became clear that Russia could not claim a right to the spot as an economic power, it instead defined its greatness in military terms. Over the decades, Russia's army has been touted as one of the strongest in the world. Indeed, a nuclear-armed military. As if to remind the world of this fact, President Vladimir Putin has regularly treated both Russians and the world to perfectly choreographed parades...

Belarus has allegedly threatened to deploy 100,000 troops in Ukraine unless Kyiv withdraws its forces from the ‘new Russian territories’ after the referendums. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Belarus government in Minsk today, Thursday, September 29, announced that unless Kyiv withdraws all of its military forces from the four new regions of Russia, it will deploy 100,000 troops in Ukraine. They were referring of course to the four occupied regions of Ukraine where the recent ‘referendums’ were held in which people allegedly voted to join the Russian Federation. They also revealed that railway stations and airports in the...

Turkish Airlines has extended its cancellation of flights to and from Belarus and Russia. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the national carrier of Turkey operated passenger flights to and from Minsk (MSQ) in Belarus as well as Rostov (RVI), Sochi (AER), and Yekaterinburg (SVX) in Russia. The Istanbul-based air carrier announced that it will not resume flights to the named destinations until at least December 31, 2022. “Our flights from/to Minsk (Belarus) have been canceled until December 31, 2022 (inclusive), from/to Sochi (Russia), have been canceled until December 31, 2022 (inclusive), and from/to Rostov (Russia)...

LONDON — Lines at neighboring borders and protests are just some of the scenes in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s call for partial military mobilization. Last week, Putin ordered up to 300,000 Russians to serve in the invasion of Ukraine that began in February. Since then, thousands of citizens have fled the country to bordering nations, including Georgia and Mongolia. A satellite image of the Russia-Georgia border taken on Tuesday shows a multitude of cars and people waiting at the crossing. According to Russian state news outlet Tass, more than 5,000 cars had created the traffic jam, which was up...

I can't see the video, even on A7, because I'm restricted for some reason or other. Let me know how it goes.

Putin squirms in his seat as Belarus dictator Lukashenko rants about men 'running away' from mobilisation in Russia as huge traffic jams on Georgia border are captured in images from SPACE Belarusian president monologued and spouted rhetorical questions in his rant to Putin today in Sochi Putin sat silently, clearly uncomfortable, as he listened to his counterpart insisting that Russia would win war The call for mobilisation has proved wildly unpopular throughout Russia, sparking protests and a mass exodus Hundreds of thousands have already fled the country and traffic jams at several border checkpoints are visible from space This is...

Russian troops have been deployed near the border with Georgia today even as the Kremlin tries to stamp out rumours that Putin is about to introduce martial law and ban people from leaving in order to avoid being conscripted into the army. Footage geolocated to the small town of Chmi, on the main highway from Russia into Georgia's South Ossetia region, shows at least six soldiers sitting on top of an armoured vehicle passing a queue of cars in the direction of the crossing. Troops arrived to set up a checkpoint, sources told the Russia's RBC network, with the FSB...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Monday in Moscow, Belarus state media reported. Russia and Belarus are close allies, with Russia having used bases in Belarus as a staging post for its troops, aircraft and equipment in the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces general staff has claimed some Russian conscripts from the Kremlin’s mass mobilisation are being sent directly to the frontlines in Ukraine without training. Amid warnings from the UK’s Ministry of Defence and other experts that many of those conscripted were likely to get little meaningful training – and faced the risk of “high rates of attrition” when deployed – men recently mobilised by pro-Russian occupation officials in Ukraine were also being readied for the frontline. Those included newly drafted personnel in Crimea as well as conscripts in the Luhansk region who have received draft summonses in recent...

Russia's two most senior lawmakers on Sunday addressed a string of complaints about Russia's mobilisation drive, ordering regional officials to get a handle on the situation and swiftly solve the "excesses" that have stoked public anger. President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two triggered protests across the country and seen flocks of military-age men flee, causing tailbacks at borders and flights to sell out. Multiple reports have also documented how people with no military service have been issued draft papers - contrary to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's guarantee that only those with special...

Vladimir Putin has escaped to his secret lakeside 'palace' amid brutal suppression of anti-mobilisation demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg. Despite denials from the Kremlin, Putin appears to have vanished on holiday to his 'most secret official dacha' in northern Russia. The residence, nestled in the forests of the Valdai Hills - about halfway between Moscow and St Petersburg - boasts a three-storey spa complex with a 'personal beauty parlour' nicknamed the 'temple to his asceticism'.