Russia talks about occasional errors in mobilization and denies closing borders

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov admitted on Monday (26) that errors had occurred in the call-up of reservists ordered last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reports from the Russian media themselves point to the call of elderly people or men without a medical condition, outside the standards listed by the government – ​​otherwise still unclear.

“In fact, there are cases where the decree has been violated. In some regions, governors are actively working to correct this situation,” said the spokesperson. Peskov’s speech is yet another sign that the Kremlin is trying to contain criticism of the mobilization, also seen in protests in which more than 2,400 people have already been arrested, according to the organization OVD-Info.

Images on the internet show clashes in acts carried out in areas where ethnic minorities predominate, such as Dagestan, in the south, mostly Muslim, and Buryatia, in Siberia.

In a talk show on Russia’s main state channel, commentators also demanded harsh punishments for military officials responsible for drafting people outside the defined categories. “Can we just shoot them?” asked presenter Vladimir Solovyov. “Take that recruiting officer by the ear and send him to the front in Donbass.”

This Sunday (25), the president of the Russian Senate, Valentina Matvienko, affiliated with Putin’s party, had also criticized the recruitment of seniors and students, called for attention to avoid mistakes. The message was addressed to governors, responsible for fulfilling Moscow’s enlistment goals.

Following Putin’s order last week, the Defense Ministry said it would be able to call up everyone with some military experience, but not those who served as conscripts or students.

In the Volgograd region, in the southwest of the country, a training center sent home a 63-year-old retired military man with diabetes and neurological problems. In the same region, the principal of a rural school, Alexander Faltin, 58, was summoned, but he had no military experience — the decision was reviewed after the backlash.

At the same time, Peskov said that no decision had been taken on closing borders to prevent the exodus of men of military age – Putin’s announcement of mobilization was followed by reports of queues at the borders with countries such as Finland and Georgia, and international air tickets, as scarce given the isolation imposed on Moscow, they multiplied in price.

“I don’t know anything about it. At the moment, no decision has been taken on it,” the Kremlin spokesman said when asked about the prospect of closing the border. The news had been speculated by two independent websites, which now operate outside Russia —Meduza and Novaia Gazeta—, citing unidentified authorities.

“Everyone of draft age should be banned from traveling abroad in the current situation,” Sergei Tsekov, a senator representing occupied Crimea, told the RIA news agency.

The speeches come a day before the end of the period set for the annexation referendums of four Ukrainian provinces — the now partially occupied Kherson, Zaporyjia, Lugansk and Donetsk. Kiev and Western allies see the votes as pretexts to seize forcibly captured territory. If they become part of Russia, in the Kremlin’s legal understanding, attacks on these areas become against the nation, and Moscow’s nuclear doctrine provides for the use of the bomb, whether low-power tactical warheads or strategic,

The exiled mayor of Melitopol, in the Zaporyjia region, accused Russia of forcibly recruiting Ukrainian men in occupied areas. “Our residents are in a panic, they don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” Ivan Fedorov told Reuters. “The voting takes place in front of rifles and armed men. People are grabbed in the street and forced to vote not only for themselves but for all their families.”