Zelensky calls on new Russian recruits to sabotage army from within

President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on new Russian recruits in Ukraine to sabotage the army from within by sharing vital intelligence with Kyiv as he sought to undermine Moscow's partial mobilisation order.

“If you get into the Russian army, sabotage any activity of the enemy, hinder any Russian operations, provide us with any important information about the occupiers - their bases, headquarters, warehouses with ammunition,” he said on Saturday in a speech aimed at people in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine that are facing conscription.

“Avoid conscription letters. Try to get to the free territory of Ukraine,” he added.

Russia’s partial mobilisation announced earlier this week seeks to call back into full-time service up to a million more troops.

That is likely to include many in the breakaway separatist republics in the Donbas, in Crimea - which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014 - and in potentially four more regions currently voting on whether to join Russia.

In Russia proper, the announcement has led to widespread protests and panic as eligible men seek to flee the country and avoid being sent to war.

There were reported to be 10km-long queues at the country’s border with Georgia on Saturday. Many are travelling on tourist visas yet claim to have no intention of returning.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the draft was not for all citizens, just for military reservists who have previously served in the Russian army and have combat experience or specialised military skills.

But rights activists say that is not true and that the burden of mobilisation - and the war itself - is falling on poor, ethnic minority regions to avoid triggering popular anger in western Russia.

In Buryatia, a rural region 6,000 km (3,700 miles) away from the capital, men are reportedly being drafted irrespective of their age, military record or medical history.

“There’s nothing partial about the mobilisation in Buryatia,” said Alexandra Garmazhapova, president of the Free Buryatia Foundation, an organisation that provides legal help to those mobilised. “They are taking everyone.”

Her foundation collected hundreds of appeals for help from residents whose relatives had received mobilisation papers. Many of them were over 40, and had medical conditions that should disqualify them from service, she said.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 residents of the region were drafted on the first night of the mobilisation order on Wednesday, Ms Garmazhapova estimated. She said that in many cases, officials had distributed summons during the night.

Buryatia Governor Alexei Tsydanov on Friday issued a statement clarifying that those who had not served in the army or who had medical exemptions would not be mobilised, though he admitted that some draft notices had been given to such men.

Russia has even been trying to draft up dead men.

Officials on Thursday arrived at the home of Alexander Bezdorozhny in the Siberian town of Ulan-Ude with draft papers - despite the fact he had died aged 40 in December 2020.

“It hurts me that the state only remembered him after he was dead,” his sister Natalia Semyonova said. "He was an invalid, and had never served in the army.”

While in Central Asian countries, dual nationals have been warned by a senior official that Moscow could strip them and their families of their Russian passports if they defy the order to report for duty.

“Refusal to perform military service should result in the deprivation of Russian citizenship not only for the person subject to military service but also for members of his family,” Kirill Kabanov, a member of Russia’s presidential human rights council, said.

Analysis: How Russia reacted to 'partial mobilisation'

By Francis Scarr.

As Russians digested President Putin’s announcement of a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 military reservists this week, Kremlin-controlled TV was busy telling viewers that men were already excitedly heading to recruitment offices across the country, keen to sign up.

On Thursday night’s news, anchors across the channels reiterated the Defence Ministry’s claim that 10,000 men had answered Putin’s call even before receiving call-up notices.

On the country’s most watched channel, state-owned Rossiya 1, a paunchy middle-aged man outside a recruitment office in the mountainous southern region of Dagestan said:

“I want to defend my homeland. My son is fighting there. I want to as well. We don’t want to be left behind.”

In a vox pop on state-controlled Channel One, a younger man declared that he was “patriotic” and had a “desire” to fight.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here signing up now,” he told the correspondent.

Although Russia’s news bulletins have been awash with scenes of men eager to serve their country, discussions on the TV talk shows that dominate daytime schedules suggest that state media bosses are aware of a potential backlash.

Programmes such as 60 Minutes on Rossiya 1 are presenting the mobilisation as a necessary response to “aggression” from the West.

The West intends to “destroy Russia and break our country up into multiple regions at war with each other”, declared host Olga Skabeyeva on Wednesday, just hours after Putin’s announcement had been aired.

Over on Time Will Tell, Channel One’s equivalent show, political commentator Alexei Mukhin insisted that “many Western actors are openly talking of war with Russia”.

“It’s impossible to ignore this kind of threat,” he said, before going on to describe the “partial mobilisation” as Moscow’s answer to Western “military aggression”.

Despite the talk of Russia facing an existential threat from Ukraine’s Western backers, state TV has also taken pains to downplay the scale of the mobilisation.

In its evening news on Wednesday, Channel One stressed that the figure of 300,000 named by Putin amounted to little more than 1 per cent of Russia’s 25 million reservists.

“And only those who have already seen service and have the military skills we currently need, as well as combat experience” will be recruited, it added.

Rossiya 1 told viewers that only the “most combat-capable reservists” would be called up, reassuring them that students and current conscripts would not be affected.

A similar message was conveyed on the talk shows. Military pundit Ivan Konovalov told Time Will Tell on Wednesday that men being called up would essentially be those who wanted to go and fight in Ukraine anyway.

Retd Col Mikhail Khodaryonok, a guest on a 60 Minutes’ panel, claimed that a “substantial part” of the mobilised reservists “will staff units in the rear and those providing technical support”.

And whenever a panellist has neglected to describe the mobilisation as “partial”, presenters have been quick to interject and correct them.

Francis Scarr is a journalist with BBC Monitoring which reports and analyses news from media around the world.