Kremlin source: hidden article in Putin’s mobilisation order allows Russia to draft one million people

The hidden article seven of the mobilisation order allows the Russian Defence Ministry to draft one million people into the army, a source in the Kremlin administration told Novaya Gazeta. Europe.

Yesterday, the official legal information portal published a scan of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order that declared a “partial mobilisation” in Russia. Article seven was marked “for internal use only”. Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the hidden article included the number of Russian citizens that would be drafted into the army.

“The only thing I can say is that [Russian Defence Minister] Sergei Shoigu said in his interview: 300,000 people. The article mentions the number of up to 300,000 people,” he explained.

A source of Novaya Gazeta. Europe in the presidential administration stresses that at first, representatives of the Defence Ministry insisted that the text of the entire order be marked “for internal use only”. Later, it was decided to classify only article seven, which dealt with the number of people that would be mobilised, the source said.

“They changed the number several times, and finally stopped at one million,”

our source clarified.

In order to verify this information, Novaya Gazeta. Europe attempted to contact executive bodies that usually receive the full texts of presidential orders, including those marked “for internal use only”. Sources in several ministries say that they have not received the full text of the order and they cannot access it through the inter-agency document management system.

“From my account at the document management system, I see the same text as everyone else: article seven is hidden,” a department head at one of the ministries says.

Novaya Gazeta. Europe points out that divulging the contents of documents marked “for internal use only” leads to disciplinary action or administrative charges. The same cannot be said about documents marked “confidential”, “secret”, or “top secret”, divulging the contents of which can lead to criminal charges.

Since the announcement of mobilisation in Russia, military commissars of at least four Russian regions have signed orders banning the citizens in reserve from leaving their cities.

Yesterday, protests against mobilisation took place across Russia. At least 1,386 people were detained, OVD-Info, a human rights group that monitors political arrests, reports.