the secrecy around paragraph 7 of the decree raises many questions

It is far from being a detail. The day after Vladimir Putin’s speech on Thursday, September 22, the Russian press and observers continue to question the content of article 7 of the mobilization decree. (in Russian), whose content is classified. The version available on the legal portal merely mentions “for official use”between paragraphs 6 and 8. An omission quickly spotted by many observers, starting with the Russian political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, very popular and followed. “Paragraph 6 is immediately followed by paragraph 8”quipped the latter after the broadcast of the text. “Maybe it’s a secret, or maybe they just forgot.”

The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was obviously asked about this mystery paragraph. “I can’t reveal” its content, he replied, specifying however that it was a question of the number of mobilized. “The only thing I can tell you is that we are indeed talking about 300,000 people”, he added, taking up the official objective of mobilization announced by Sergueï Choïgou, Minister of Defence. What revive, despite everything, concerns about the real outline of the mobilization decreed by Vladimir Putin, while the first summonses are issued.

The newspaper Novaya Gazetaciting a source within the presidential administration, claimed that this paragraph (in Russian) allows the Department of Defense to call up to “a million people”. The information was immediately qualified as “lying” by Dmitri Peskov, quoted by several Russian agencies (in Russian). On his side, Novaya Gazeta emphasizes that the stamp “for official use” corresponds to the highest level of classified documents, and that several of his ministerial sources were also unable to consult this article. At this stage, it is therefore difficult to know more.