[War & Business] First Mobilization Order Since WWII... Putin Didn't Even Need a Justification

First Mobilization Order in 80 Years Since Nazi Germany's Invasion
Young Men Flee Abroad to Escape Conscription
Dictator's Obsession Pushes the Nation Into Crisis

On the 21st (local time), police in downtown Moscow, Russia, are arresting and detaining protesters opposing the partial mobilization order. Moscow (Russia) = AP·Yonhap News Photo by AP

"A partial mobilization order must be pursued to protect Russia's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

On the 21st, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilization order across Russia for the first time since World War II. The news that 300,000 reservist men who have completed military service will be conscripted has sparked strong backlash among the Russian people.

Young men subject to conscription are fleeing abroad in large numbers, and protests against the mobilization order are spreading daily in major cities including Moscow. Air tickets for overseas departures have sold out all at once, and with visa issuance prices soaring due to sanctions against Russia, ordinary citizens who find it difficult to purchase air tickets are crossing borders by land. The scheming of some privileged classes trying to avoid mobilization by using connections and bribes is also fueling the anger of the Russian people.

This chaos had already been anticipated even before the mobilization order was announced. The so-called "special military operation" against Ukraine, which was confidently declared to end within a week at the start of the invasion in February, has dragged on for over seven months with no progress, and now with the mobilization order declared, public trust in the Russian government has completely collapsed.

The word "mobilization order" had only appeared in history books in Russia until now. This is because the mobilization order was declared for the first time in over 80 years since Germany's invasion during World War II in 1941. In particular, a mobilization order has never been issued for an aggressive war against a weaker country.

Especially, Russian citizens who had only seen propaganda videos on state media claiming repeated victories in Ukraine were shocked. Although the Russian government explained that the limited mobilization order targets 300,000 reservists, concerns are spreading that the mobilization could be greatly expanded if the war situation worsens. Some media reports even suggest that the conscription target could increase to one million.

Aside from strong public opposition and resistance, opinions are divided on whether Russia can actually conscript 300,000 troops and send them to the front lines. Already in February, the 150,000 troops deployed to the Ukraine war showed poor performance due to command system confusion from the beginning of the war, resulting in at least 80,000 casualties, so it is uncertain whether 300,000 troops, more than double that number, can be properly commanded.

In particular, large-scale mobilization is evaluated to be effective only when there is cooperation among civilians, government, and military, along with excellent administrative capability and efficient resource allocation by the government. Even Stalin's Soviet regime during World War II suffered poor performance due to inadequate administrative capacity and command confusion in the early stages of mobilization. As a result, more than 20 million mobilized troops were sacrificed as meaningless cannon fodder without properly engaging in combat, a painful history.

At least Stalin's regime's mobilization order was issued for national defense rather than an aggressive war, so the Soviet people were able to unite with the determination to defeat the Nazi German invaders despite great losses. However, Putin's mobilization order, born from an unjustified aggressive war, is instead alienating public sentiment. The dictator's obsession with winning the Ukraine war by any means is drawing global attention to what kind of crisis Russia may be driven into.