Russia’s enlistment attempt

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 29th of September, 2022. Glad to have you along for WORLD Radio today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up: Russian conscription.

Last week, Vladimir Putin decided to call up conscripts to fight the war in Ukraine. It’ll change the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russian families.

The announcement sparked vocal dissent. Many fled the country. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

PUTIN: [Speaking in Russian]

JOSH SCHUMACHER, reporter: Vladimir Putin last Wednesday announced on Russian state television a partial military mobilization. The move came after Russian losses in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region. Or, according to the Kremlin, after Russia strategically retreated from the area.

Evgeny Kosykh used to be a pastor in Russia. He also attended this year’s World Journalism Institute in Europe. He says the Russian authorities are being a bit misleading about the military mobilization.

KOSYKH: Russian authorities said they wanted to recruit 300,000 people. That’s the official line. But in the mobilization decree, there’s one part about the number of people who should be called up. And that is classified. One source for that information is an independent Russian newspaper called “Novaya Gazeta.” It reports that Putin wants to mobilize one million people for the war. What that means is almost every family in Russia will face this.

The same day Putin announced the mobilization, Russian citizens took to the streets.

AUDIO: [Protests in Russia]

Some reports say that more than 1,300 Russians—some say as many as 2,000—have been arrested for protesting the war. One man attacked an enlistment office and shot the commanding officer. Russian media reported that he was upset his friend, who had no combat experience, had been called up. At least 17 other enlistment offices have received a notorious Russian gift: Molotov Cocktails. That, according to Russian independent media.

Neighboring countries report that 194,000 Russians have voiced their protest by leaving the country.

Initially they tried to leave by plane, but pretty soon all the tickets were gone—despite the fact that prices were soaring.

Before long people resorted to traveling out of the country by car, on foot, or using bicycles.

According to satellite images by Maxar Technologies, the line of cars waiting to get into just the country of Georgia stretched for nine miles. That’s four and a half times the length of Manhattan island.

Kosykh says the reason all these people are leaving is pretty simple:

KOSYKH: People don't want to go to war. They don't want to kill. And they don't want to be killed. This is a senseless war. Almost everyone understands this. Russians reacted to this decree with protests and military aged men and their families fleeing the country.

One young man from Russia who’s now in Kazakhstan said something pretty similar.

AUDIO: [Speaking in Russian]

He said that many of those fleeing Russia distrust the government about how many people are actually being called up. They also are trying to avoid the possibility of getting called up in the future if the government does announce a full mobilization.

Evgeny Kosykh also says that this mobilization order poses a major question specifically to Christians: how seriously do they take their faith?

KOSYKH: The government does not take into account Christian beliefs and so Christians face a serious choice. The punishment is 10 years in prison for refusing to go to war. We all sometimes face a test of our faith. And this test for Russian Christians now is very severe. It’s likely that many will end up in prison, because the Russian regime is ruthless towards those who do not comply with their decrees.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

REICHARD: And a special thanks to WJI alum Evgeny Kosykh for contributing to that report.

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