Ahead of 9 May, when people across Russia mark the Soviet Union’s victory in the Second World War, several media outlets suggested that Vladimir Putin could announce a general mobilisation.
The expectation was that the move would come during Putin’s Victory Day speech on Red Square. Citing their own sources, the publications said Russian security services would close the borders for men aged 18 to 60 within 10 days. Job sites saw a marked rise in vacancies for “mobilisation specialists”. In response, a change.org petition against mobilisation collected several thousand signatures in a few hours. Mass mobilisation was not announced on 9 May, though Russian society was frozen in a state of suspense.
But covert mobilisation is underway, says Sergey Krivenko, head of the ‘Citizen.Army.Law’ human rights association.
