After Putin’s speech, it was left to his defense minister to provide details and try to ease the fears of Russian men across the country about this sudden ‘partial mobilization’ in Ukraine.
After all, declaring that you support a ‘special operation’ and actually going to fight are two very different things.
Sergei Shoigu said about 300,000 reservists would be called up – a fraction of the 25 million Russia has. He said that they will not be taken together but as per need.
He insisted that the students would not be used, could ‘keep calm’, and would ‘keep going to class’. Nor would conscripts be sent to the front – a move that would have been very unpopular.
Instead, Russia says it will use men with combat experience.
In his comments, Sergei Shoigu also claimed that fewer than 6,000 Russian soldiers (5,937) were killed in action, a figure far lower than estimates by Western intelligence agencies, and even lower than reported in open sources. Is.
But this is the first time in months that Moscow has given any figures (perhaps to reassure those who are about to receive their call-up papers).
Despite the soft voice and calm tone of the defense minister, this is a major shift in approach. The war that many Russians had been trying to ignore has now been brought much closer to home for them and thousands of their families.
