Putin says mobilization is over — and that he ‘will talk to lawyers’ about whether a decree is necessary

Speaking at a press conference in Sochi on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s mobilization drive has ended.

At the same time, the president said he hasn’t yet signed a decree officially declaring the draft over — and that he’s not sure whether that step is even necessary.

Yes, it [the mobilization announcement] was done by my decree [...], but it was done at the suggestion of the Defense Ministry, and now the Defense Ministry has proposed to end mobilization activities. Frankly, I hadn’t really even thought about it. I’ll talk to lawyers about whether I need to declare it over by decree. But it’s over, that’s decided.

Putin also said there are currently only 41,000 mobilized soldiers in combat formations, while 259,000 “aren’t participating in combat operations at all, and are in training.” At the same time, he cited Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who told Putin on October 28 that 82,000 people had been deployed.

• Earlier on October 31, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that no more draft notices will be issued or sent out. On October 28, Shoigu told Putin that mobilization was over.
• Despite Shoigu’s statement, reports of people receiving draft orders have continued to come out of various regions of Russia. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said this was due to a “certain inertia” in the work of Russia’s military commissars.

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