Mobilization in Russia

The first Russian word I taught my husband was the word  “жопа”=ass.

One day he came home from work and said that his boss was “жопа” (ass). I corrected him: ass is the situation, and his boss is a козел=goat*.

When my friends and relatives (actually Daniel’s relatives) ask me about my sons, the best way to answer would be the word “ass”.

If you read me you know what I think about Putin’s war. 

My main concern was mobilization. Many Russians thought they were not interested in politics, the government was doing  what must be done to take care of its citizens.  

And now politics has come to almost everyone’s home. And mobilization has become not only my concern.

On September 21, president Putin announced a partial mobilization. Where the word “partial”  means nothing. 

Who is primarily subject to mobilization?

Men who have served in the army with combat experience and have a military accounting specialty are subject to mobilization.

Priority will be given to the military accounting specialties necessary for the performance of tasks: shooters, tankers, gunners, drivers and mechanics-drivers. 

Who will not be affected by the mobilization?

-Citizens who have a “reservation”, these include employees of defense industry enterprises

-Recognized as temporarily unfit for health reasons

-Those who are engaged in the permanent care of a family member or the disabled of group I (whatever it means)

-Having four or more dependent children under the age of 16

-Those whose mothers, besides them, have four or more children under the age of 8 and raise them without a husband

-Full-time students and graduates of military departments should not be called up

-Also, the mobilization will not affect military pensioners who are retired and removed from military registration.

-And, IT specialists and financiers are not subject to mobilization.

However, all these “must” or “must not” mean absolutely nothing when it comes to real life. 

I have joined the telegram channel created by Navaly’s team. They collect all the info related to the subject and share it. 

I will pick a few cases and translate it with Google, LOL. It’s faster.  

-In Volgograd, 63-year-old reservist lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ermolaev was mobilized. Despite brain ischemia and diabetes, he was declared fit, and then sent to the Prudboy landfill.

After publications in the media, Ermolaev was sent home.

-In Ulan-Ude, mobilization spread everywhere. On Wednesday, the police raided the Olkhon shopping center. The police blocked the entrances and exits and checked the documents of all the men. Several people were detained. They probably fit the parameters of mobilization. Ulan-Ude is a city in Buryatia, a very poor part of Russia. According to unconfirmed (by government) data, many of those who died during the hostilities came from this region.

In response, the Russians set fire to Military Enlistment Offices:

-St. Petersburg. Partisans threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of the military enlistment office.

-Nizhny Novgorod. On September 21, an unknown person tried to set fire to the military enlistment office of the Leninsky and Kanavinsky districts. 

-Guy, Orenburg region. On the night of September 22, unknown persons poured flammable liquid over the military enlistment office. Only one wall was damaged by the flames.

-Togliatti. On the night of September 22, an unknown person set fire to the entrance to the city administration building. The fire was extinguished, no one was injured. 

-Kyra, Trans-Baikal Territory. On the morning of September 22, an unknown person threw a Molotov cocktail into the military enlistment office building. The mixture flooded some papers. Svobodniy, Amur region. On the night of September 23, an unknown person threw a Molotov cocktail into the military enlistment office building. The fire slightly damaged the facade of the building,

-Khabarovsk. On September 23, an unknown person placed two bottles of flammable liquid between the bars on the windows of the office of the head of the mobilization department and the statistical documentation storage room. The fire was extinguished quickly, the documents were not damaged.

-Kamyshin, Volgograd region. On the morning of September 23, unknown persons threw an “incendiary object” into the city administration building. Minor damage was caused, according to the city administration.

-Сelinniy, Altai Krai. The building of the village administration caught fire. As a result of the fire, the ceiling of the administration was damaged, and the post office located in the same building was completely burned out.

The military enlistment offices in Russia have been set on fire before. But all these cases have occurred within the last two days.

In Tomsk, for two days in a row, the National Guard cordoned off the building of the Tomsk military enlistment office due to a report of a bomb threat.

In general, I am not violent. But now I wish someone would burn this building to the ground.

While the military enlistment office still operating, the best that young people can do now:

-do not answer unknown phone calls

-don’t open the door (it’s better for no one) 

-do not accept or sign documents from the military enlistment office

-hide

-leave the country (if you have money and a passport **), don’t live in the place where you’re registered

-if you are on the battlefield, surrender, just do it carefully so that your commander does not kill you.

-sabotage (as much as you can) and HIDE!

In the city of Seversk, not far from the military enlistment office, someone opened a shop selling memorial wreaths. Seversk is a small closed city near Tomsk, where a nuclear power plant is located. The Traffic Police are helping the mobilization process there. They stop the cars, and the staff of the military enlistment office hands the men summonses.

These people don’t care about the “must” or “must not”. 

 The Mayors of the cities received an order that a certain number of men should be sent to the front from the region.

The “National Guard” grabs everybody and sends them to the camp, just to make the numbers. 

Each region tries to  achieve  it in its own way. There is a real mess going on!

In the city of Kursk, small businesses must provide cars, containers for fuel, and etc  to military enlistment offices. Even personal cars can be seized for the needs of the war.

There is no law in a country, not any more. No, I’m wrong – there is Putin’s law there now. 

There is no logic, no common sense , only the ambitions  of the person who lost his mind. 

Meanwhile in Tomsk, according to the Ria Tomsk news, a media that I quote a lot when I talk about Russia and my home town:

“More than four thousand people, according to police estimates, came to a rally near the Tomsk Drama Theater on Friday evening to support the referendums that began in the Donbass and Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.”

Really? People, don’t you have anything else to do?

On the other hand, they live in Russia. They may not know or do not want to know what is happening in the world and with their country in particular.

All of the above may seem confusing. It is difficult to explain the way of life and the laws of the country in a short post, especially when fear has taken over my consciousness.

I’m really worried about all Russians and Ukrainians, and especially about my sons. I really hope they will survive that craziness. 

I read/watch the news that drives my mind crazy, go to work pretending that everything is fine with me, try to do what I should do.

Just the last thing: if you live in democracy – appreciate it!

*goat in Russian prison slang is a very bad word. I prefer not to go into details, I don’t want to offend anyone. The semantic meaning of jargon changed in the early 60s. Currently, the word “goat” in prison jargon is synonymous with the word “snitch”. But (my free and unnecessary advice to anyone) n-e-v-e-r call a Russian man that way in the eyes.

**Russian citizens use an internal passport. It specifies the name, surname, date of birth, marital status, children (under 18), place of residence. To travel abroad, you need to get an international  passport.

Materials used:

https://fsin-pismo-gid.ru/blatnoj-zhargon/kto-takie-kozly-na-zone

https://www.riatomsk.ru/article/20220922/minoboroni-nazvalo-specialistov-dlya-priziva-v-armiyu/

https://www.riatomsk.ru/article/20220923/miting-tomsk/

https://t.me/mobilizationnews