This is no second draft round — ‘we’re just topping up’ the army, regional officials say
Following the Kremlin’s lead, regional authorities across Russia are now denying the “second wave” of mobilization announced yesterday by the governors of Rostov and Kursk regions. Regional officials now say that there’s no such thing as a “second wave” of the draft. Instead, they’re just “slightly topping up the numbers.”
Officials in Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, and Ryazan Oblast all deny that their military commissariats might be conducting a second stage of mobilization. Igor Kibalnik, first deputy military commissioner for Buryatia, said that some “additional recruitment” in being done instead.
In Zabaykalsky Krai, officials say that the region has met its mobilization quota but continues to mobilize volunteers. “If other regions are still sending out draft letters, this is just the process of topping up the numbers, not a second wave of mobilization,” said a regional government representative.
The Governor of Ryazan Oblast Pavel Malkov said that “there’s no talk of a second wave.” “There’re certain goals that we are now trying to meet. But there’s no goal of drafting everyone at once, on a single day,” he said.
The start of a new stage in Russia’s mobilization was bruited widely, once the governor of the Kursk region announced, on October 11, that the region had entered the “second wave” of the draft. The same day, the regional Governor of Rostov also wrote about the “new mobilization assignment” received by the region.
On October 12, the Russian presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov denied the reality of the second round of the draft, and any truth to the statements from Rostov and Kursk.
Following Peskov’s briefing, Igor Yegorov, the military commissioner for the Rostov Region, issued a statement, saying that “there’re no ‘waves’ in existence.” “All mobilization activities are carried out within the planned timeframe, and according to the numbers specified,” he said.
Kursk regional officials declined to make any further clarifications to journalists, saying only that “Peskov is absolutely right.”
In September, Dozhd reported, citing its readers, that military commissariats in several Russian regions had said that mobilization would take place in three phases. According to those reports, the second phase was slated for October 11–25, and the third for October 26–November 10.
Svetlana Agapitova, the St. Petersburg human rights commissioner, also mentioned in the past that the “first stage” of mobilization would be completed on October 10.
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