Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a partial mobilization in the country as he is facing mounting pressure over the military setbacks in the face of a lightning-fast Ukrainian offensive in the northeast.
In a prerecorded address to Russians on Wednesday afternoon, he said the mobilization will begin immediately and only reservists with experience will be called up.
He also backed controversial votes in occupied Ukrainian territory to join Russia, and militants in the so-called Luhansk and Donbass Peoples Republics (LPR and DNP) will be considered as soldiers of the Russian Federation going forward.
“We are talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a suitable military specialty and relevant experience,” Putin said.
According to Putin, those called up for military service will definitely undergo additional military training before being sent to the units.
Putin said the move is “fully adequate to the threats we face, namely to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories.”
Putin added that Russia has no moral right to hand over people it holds close — residents of the DPR and LPR — "to be torn to pieces by the executioner, and cannot but respond to their desire to determine their own future".
Putin referred to the Ukrainian government as a "neo-Nazi" regime and claimed that Western countries had "crossed every line" and tried to "blackmail" Russia with nuclear weapons.
For eight years, the Kyiv regime has been dragging this out,” Putin said.
“Therefore, our military units are acting in a well-thought, correct manner. They are freeing the country, freeing villages and towns - step by step.”
Putin said that NATO and the United States is pushing Ukraine to transfer hostilities to the territory of Russia and the West, led by the United States, had been aggressive towards Russia for decades.
“The purpose of this West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country,” he said.
Washington, London and Brussels " are already openly saying that Russia must be defeated by all means on the battlefield, followed by the deprivation of economic, political, cultural, in general, any sovereignty, with the complete plunder of our country."
“They are already directly saying that in 1991 they were able to split the Soviet Union, and now the time has come for Russia itself, that it should break up into many regions and regions mortally hostile to each other.”
In the apparently coordinated move, pro-Russian figures announced referendums for September 23-27 in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces of Ukraine (about 15 per cent of Ukrainian territory).
