Unfit Military Task: Thousands Of Mobilized Persons Returned, Russian Military Commissioner Dismissed

Illustration of Russian mobilization. (Wikimedia Commons/ largeоенинистрой одидидий едидий)

JAKARTA - Thousands of Russians mobilized for military service in Ukraine have been repatriated, while military commissars in Russia's Khabarovsk region have been dismissed, the latest picture of the chaos of a program announced directly by President Vladimir Putin and targeting 300,000 conscripts.

On the battlefield, Russian forces suffered a stinging setback on Sunday, with Ukrainian forces claiming complete control of Russia's eastern logistics hub Lyman, their most significant gain in weeks.

Mikhail Degtyarev, governor of the Khabarovsk region in Russia's the Far East, said several thousand men had applied to register within 10 days but many did not qualify.

"About half of them we returned home because they did not meet the selection criteria to enter military service", Degtyarev said in a video posted on the messaging app Telegram, reported Reuters on October 3.

He said the region's military commissar had been removed but his dismissal would not affect the mobilization.

The mobilizations are touted as enlisting those with military experience but often seem to ignore service records, health, student status, and even age.

Illustration of the Russian mobilization. (Wikimedia Commons/Совет ов еспублики )

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that all mistakes made in mobilizing to strengthen Russia's military operations in Ukraine must be corrected, his first public acknowledgment that the partial mobilization he announced did not go smoothly.

There were widespread public expressions of discontent from officials and citizens over the way mobilization was handled, including complaints about registration officers sending summons to clearly ineligible people.

"In this mobilization, many questions arise, and all mistakes must be corrected and prevented from happening in the future. For example, I think of fathers of many children, or people who suffer from chronic diseases, or those who are past the age of military service", President Putin said.

President Putin has particularly refrained from blaming it - either on the Ministry of Defense headed by his close ally Sergei Shoigu or on regional officials entrusted with deciding exactly who the summons should go to.

It is known that Russia's first mobilization since World War Two announced on September 21, after its troops suffered heavy defeats on the battlefield in Ukraine, has caused widespread discontent and forced thousands of people to flee abroad.