The recruitment office has issued stacks of conscription documents to housing associations in St. Petersburg, reports human rights defender Pavel Chikov to the agency. Defense Minister Sergej Shojgu says the military calls in people with military experience and military “specialists” for the war in Ukraine, but it was not clear to whom this would apply. The editor-in-chief of the state media RT and an open supporter of Putin, says in a post that the list of specialist areas that are desired is “classified”. Russian police during a demonstration in Moscow. Photo: REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER / Reuters Nevertheless, there are signs that experience in health care is in demand for service. Chikov further tells Reuters that medical personnel in Moscow “have been asked by the recruitment offices to sign up”. Some companies are also said to have asked their employees to share details of their previous military service as soon as possible. Claims that more than a thousand have been arrested Several demonstrations were announced in Russia on Wednesday against the new mobilization for the war in Ukraine. More than a thousand people in 37 Russian cities will be arrested in connection with these, reports the human rights organization OVD-Info. A protester is arrested by Russian police. Photo: REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER / Reuters AFP journalists in the middle of the capital report that at least 50 people have been arrested in a shopping street there. – We have not seen such demonstrations in Russian cities in the last five or six months because people have been afraid of being arrested, and that is what is happening now, explains Sky News journalist Diana Magnay, who is present in Moscow. – The police handle the demonstrators brutally, and several people chant “no to war” against the police, she says further. Russian police have arrested several hundred protesters in Russia. Photo: REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER / Reuters Take months before the soldiers reach the battlefield This is the first time Russia has mobilized since the Second World War, writes Reuters. The speech by the Russian president on Wednesday, in which he announces partial military mobilization, is primarily an admission. That is according to the Norwegian intelligence chief, Nils Andreas Stensønes. – It is quite clear that a leader must admit that things are not going well on the battlefield in Ukraine, and the second is that he must admit that it is a war. Intelligence chief Nils Andreas Stensønes believes that mobilization in Russia will take time. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news – Then it is necessary for him to take action to try to reverse that development. Stensønes says that even if Russia now wants to mobilize 300,000 additional soldiers, it will take time to do this in practice. – Firstly, they have to call them in, they have to get dressed and trained, then they can send someone down to replace the big losers. – It is at best months before this will have a significant impact on the battlefield, other than reinforcing or replacing the loss they have had so far.
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