Russia's not-so-partial 'partial mobilization'

More details emerge about the Kremlin’s draft

In an interview Thursday, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, speaking as an official representative of the Russian Armed Forces, revealed more details about the country’s “partial mobilization” that was announced on September 21.

Here's a summary of what he said.

• Russia’s mobilization will affect citizens with experience necessary to perform certain military tasks: “That refers, of course, to riflemen, tank operators, artillery gunners, drivers, and driver-mechanics.”
• There’s no official order in which people are to be drafted, but priority will be given to people with the military skills that are most needed.
• One of the main factors determining whether a person is drafted will be combat experience.
• Conscription will affect rank-and-file soldiers up to 35 years old, junior officers up to 50 years old, and senior officers up to 55 years old.
• Some jobs, such as medical workers, can be done by women who have the appropriate skills, but the need for those positions is minimal.
• There are no quotas for how many people to conscript, but each subject of the Russian Federation has a separate target for how many troops to supply. These targets are based on “existing human mobilization reserves.”
• Mobilized troops will receive the same status, payments, and social guarantees as contract soldiers.

Who won’t be mobilized:

• Certain defense industry employees
• People declared temporarily unfit to serve for health reasons
• People responsible for providing constant care to family members or to people with certain disabilities
• People with four or more dependent children under the age of 16
• People whose mothers have four or more children under the age of 8 and who care for the children in place of their father
• Retired veterans who have been removed from the draft registry
• People who live outside of Russia and aren’t on the draft registry

On Russia's annual fall conscription:

• The annual fall draft will take place as usual and will have no connection to the “special military operation.” All soldiers conscripted as part of the annual draft will perform their military service on Russian territory.
• The mobilization will not affect full-time students.
• This fall, 120,000 people will be drafted into the army as part of the annual fall draft. Even with the “special military operation” ongoing, this will fully meet the needs of Russia’s security forces.

Russian Defense Ministry Sergey Shoigu said earlier that the mobilization effort declared on September 20 will affect “300,000 reserve troops,” and will only apply to people who have already served and have military training and combat experience.

Vladimir Putin’s official mobilization decree includes a classified paragraph marked “for official use.” According to Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, the confidential section contains the number of soldiers to be mobilized. A source from the Putin administration told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the paragraph allows for up to one million people to be drafted, something the Kremlin denied.