According to Western government sources, around 400,000 Russians fled their homes as a result of the partial mobilization. The number does not include those who had already left the country because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In addition to fleeing abroad, many Russians have also gone underground in their own country to avoid being drafted into the military, government officials said in an interview with journalists today.
When you add that to the number of people who were actually recruited, the decline in the working population “puts a significant additional burden on Russia’s economy and public finances,” they said.
Moscow announced last week that the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine, which began in late September, had already been completed. About 82,000 of the men are already positioned at the front, and the rest are being prepared for combat in Russia. No further mobilization measures are foreseen.
Soldiers at the front must ensure that Russia does not lose the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions that were annexed and partially occupied by Ukraine. Putin had declared that the aim was to secure a front line some 1,100 kilometers long. Ukraine wants to liberate the areas – and the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea, annexed by Moscow in 2014 – again.