In full mobilization of its reservists to fight in Ukraine, Moscow on Saturday toughened the penalties for deserters and arrested hundreds of protesters, after dismissing its head of military logistics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed amendments providing for up to 10 years in prison for soldiers who desert or refuse to fight.
He also signed a law that facilitates access to Russian nationality for foreigners who enlist for at least a year in the army, at a time when Moscow is seeking by all means to recruit more men to fight in Ukraine.
However, these firm measures did not deter opponents of this partial mobilization from demonstrating across the country on Saturday, where at least 710 people were arrested in 32 cities, nearly half of them in Moscow, according to OVD-Info, an organization specializing in counting arrests.
Influx at the Georgian border
“We are not cannon fodder! said a young woman in Moscow as police in riot helmets led her away. This is one of the slogans of the demonstrators opposed to sending mobilized troops to Ukraine.
In Saint Petersburg (north-west), the second largest city in the country, Ilia Frolov, 22, brought a small banner bearing the word “peace”. “I want to express my disagreement with what is happening […] I don’t want to fight for Putin,” he says. “I am against war and mobilization. I’m afraid for young people,” said another resident, Natalia Doubova, 70.
Wednesday, the day of the announcement of the mobilization by Mr. Putin, nearly 1400 demonstrators had already been arrested.
This mobilization order, which according to the authorities concerns 300,000 people, has aroused the concern of many Russians, some choosing to leave the country.
The Russian authorities thus recognized on Saturday a “significant” influx of cars seeking to go to Georgia, with some 2,300 vehicles counted at a single border post.
The borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia have also seen an influx of Russians, with reports of people sometimes waiting several hours before being able to cross.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports of an “exodus” of Russians were “greatly exaggerated”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking directly to Russian citizens on Saturday evening, told them that their president was knowingly sending “citizens to their deaths”.
“The Russian power understands perfectly well that it is sending its citizens to their deaths,” Mr. Zelensky said in Russian, calling on Moscow’s forces to surrender. “You will be treated in a civilized manner…no one will know the circumstances of your surrender.”
Continuation of referendums
Moscow also announced on Saturday that it had replaced its head of military logistics, a weak point in its offensive in Ukraine, launched seven months ago to the day. The forces of kyiv recently launched a counter-offensive which allowed them to liberate important territories in the region of Kharkiv (east).
General Dmitry Bulgakov, Deputy Defense Minister, was transferred to “another post” and replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who until then headed the National Defense Control Center.
Russia on the other hand continued on Saturday its “referendums” of annexation, launched the day before in four regions of Ukraine under its total or partial control, despite new threats of sanctions from the West.
US President Joe Biden thus warned Friday evening of the risk of “rapid and severe” retaliatory measures in the event of annexations, believing that “Russia’s referendums are a sham, a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force”.
Previously, the G7 countries (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) had called on “all countries to unequivocally reject these fictitious referendums”, “simulacra” which “have neither legal effect or legitimacy”.
According to the Ukrainian army on Saturday morning, because of a low turnout, members of the “polling stations” went, accompanied by Russian soldiers, to the homes of the inhabitants so that they “vote” from their homes.
Without going so far as to denounce the polls, China, Moscow’s closest partner, called for respect for “the territorial integrity of all countries”.
These “referendums” organized in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and in areas under Russian occupation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporijjia (south), will end on September 27.
In Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, authorities staged demonstrations in support of the votes with flags and slogans.
“Russophobia”
On the diplomatic front, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday called on Ukraine and Russia not to let the war “spill over”, during his speech to the UN General Assembly, and wished for a ” peaceful resolution”.
From the same platform, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced on Saturday the “unprecedented” and “grotesque” Russophobia of the West.
“They do not hesitate to declare their intention not only to inflict a military defeat on our country, but also to destroy Russia,” he added.
Asked during a press conference about possible pressure from China on his country to end this war, Mr. Lavrov kicked into touch: “You can say […] that I avoided answering your question.
Iran, for its part, found itself in the crosshairs of the Ukrainian authorities, who blame it for its arms deliveries to Moscow and in particular drones, which killed one person in a Russian attack on the port of Odessa on Friday.