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In early January, the Russian authorities will close the borders to men, martial law will be declared, and a new wave of mobilizations will begin. This is the forecast made by the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, about the first weeks that people will live in Russia in 2023.
In a message posted on New Year’s Eve to Russian citizens eligible for military service, Reznikov warned that Russians only have one week left in which they “still have a choice.”
“Today they are thinking about how they are going to decorate a festive table and making plans for the future, but with the clock ticking down. You may not hear when military officers knock on your door.”, Reznikov said in a video shared by the Belarusian agency Next.
At the beginning of January, the borders will be closed in #Russiamartial law will be declared and a new wave of mobilization will begin, – Reznikov.
The Minister of Defense of #Ukraine he called on the Russians to avoid mobilization at all costs to save their lives. pic.twitter.com/x3OXIeK8Y1
— NEXT (@nexta_tv) December 30, 2022
The Ukrainian minister refers that the new mobilization will especially affect the cities, since Russia has already summoned a large number of citizens in the interior regions.
“I don’t ask you to take my words for it, but I want you to ask yourself a simple question and answer it honestly: when you go to war, where can you die or be hurt for the rest of your life? Are you going to fight?” she questioned.
Reznikov’s statements were backed by the leader of the secret services, who in an interview with the BBC said that the new Russian mobilization will begin on January 5 to reinforce the troops in Ukraine. “I don’t know specifically if they’ll announce it that day, but that’s the day they plan to go ahead with the move.“.
“[A Rússia] a new wave of mobilization will have to start, even considering that the previous mobilization, which was supposedly over, did not stop and people are being summoned at full speed,” said Kirill Budanov.
In September, President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial military mobilization,” calling on thousands of Russians to fight on the front lines in Ukraine. The hours that followed were marked by protests and in the following weeks photographs of queues of Russians at airports and intense traffic on Russia’s borders with neighboring countries multiplied.
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Russia has announced that the process has come to an end and, despite the doubts of the Ukrainian authorities, they assure that they do not plan a new mobilization.
Last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu revealed that 300,000 men were conscripted into reserve during the months of September and October. To that figure will have been added “20,000 volunteers.”
According to the Kremlin, 150,000 troops have already been deployed in combat zones, and the other half are still in training and will later be sent into combat.
Source: Observadora
