Putin to meet with Russians to discuss support for mobilized soldiers

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will “meet with people” to discuss the issues of resources and support for mobilized soldiers. He mentioned the plan during a meeting with Tver Governor Igor Rudenya, a video of which was posted by the Kremlin’s official Telegram channel.

“Of course, this needs to be discussed directly with people. I’ll also certainly meet with people to talk about this, in order to hear [them] and to have that kind of feedback,” said Putin.

Russian President Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS that Putin’s “meeting with people” will be its own event, though it’s unclear when the meeting will take place.

Since the start of Russia’s mobilization drive, there have been frequent media reports of conscripts’ relatives and draftees themselves complaining of terrible living conditions, a lack of training, and having to buy their equipment themselves.

On October 19, Vladimir Putin signed an order for every mobilized soldier to be paid at least 195,000 rubles ($3,160) after joining a unit. However, the independent Russian outlet iStories has noted that Russia’s regions don’t have enough funding in their budgets to cover the payments.

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