Russia’s defence ministry says the partial military mobilisation that was announced in September after a series of battleground defeats in Ukraine has been completed.
“All activities related to the conscription … of citizens in the reserve have been stopped,” the ministry said, and no further call-up notices would be issued.
President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s first large-scale mobilisation since World War II on September 21, one of a series of escalatory measures in response to military setbacks in northeastern and south Ukraine.
He said the draft was needed to protect the country and its territorial integrity, but the announcement triggered demonstarations and attacks on draft centres across the country and led to the arrest of thousands of people.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the time that some 300,000 additional personnel would be drafted and that they would be specialists with combat experience.
The Russian government tried to dress the draft in the same language it used to justify the full-scale invasion in February, justifying it as a fight against Nazism and an existential confrontation with the West.
But the mobilisation proceeded chaotically, with many highly publicised cases of call-up notices going to the wrong men. Hundreds of thousands fled Russia to avoid being drafted, while a survey conducted by the independent pollster Levada Center after the announcement found that close to half of the respondents felt fear and 13 percent were angry.
Putin has publicly acknowledged mistakes were made and has set up a new coordination council to boost the military effort and ensure that men being sent to the front are properly armed and equipped.
