Announcing Partial Mobilization Completed, Russian Ministry of Defense: All Conscription Activities Stopped

Illustration of Russian mobilization. (Wikimedia Commons/men's

JAKARTA - Russia has completed the partial military mobilization announced by President Vladimir Putin in September, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"All activities related to conscription... of citizens in the reserve have been suspended," the ministry said, and no further notice of summons would be issued, cited from Reuters, November 1.

Putin announced Russia's first mobilization since World War Two on September 21, one of a series of escalatory measures in the face of the advance of Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the time, about 300,000 additional personnel would be recruited and they would be specialists with combat experience.

But mobilization has gone awry, with many cases of call notifications being published to the wrong people. Hundreds of thousands of people have left Russia to avoid military service.

President Putin has publicly acknowledged mistakes made, and has set up a new coordinating council to step up military efforts, ensuring those sent to the front lines are properly armed and equipped.

Reported last week, speaking at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin broadcast on state television, Minister Shoigu said: "The task you set for (mobilizing) 300.000 people has been completed. No further action is planned."

Minister Shoigu further said that of the 300.000 recruits mobilized, 218.000 remained in training. Meanwhile, 82.000 people have been deployed to conflict zones, with 41.000 of them having been assigned to their units.

He explained that in future recruitment for the Ukrainian campaign will be based on volunteers and professional soldiers, rather than mobilizing more than a few million Russian reservists.

Mobilization is seen as a tacit acknowledgment that Russia is facing serious difficulties in the conflict, which President Putin has chosen to describe as a special military operation rather than war.