The Kremlin Has Found A Way To Throw 2 Million More Russians Into The War

They'll start sending reservists to the front.

Russian authorities are preparing to enlist the Defense Ministry's huge mobilization reserve, which was created by decree of Vladimir Putin in 2015.

On Monday, the government approved a bill that would allow the Russian president to use reservists without declaring martial law and mobilization in counter-terrorist operations (CTO) and military conflicts, including those abroad.

This will allow up to 2 million people to be deployed for the army's needs, RTVI first deputy chairman of the Duma defense committee Alexei Zhuravlev told RTVI. "After all, we are fighting very real and very large-scale hostilities, but at the same time the war has not been officially declared. And these legal subtleties limited the possibility of maneuvering for the Ministry of Defense, now they have been eliminated," - said the deputy.

The question is about people who "voluntarily served in the army", receiving for this allowance, various payments and benefits, and now are in the reserve, also receiving for this money supplements and benefits. These people will be involved "in a much greater number of cases than before," and this is "quite normal, especially given the situation in which our country is now," Zhuravlev stressed.

According to the bill, reservists will undergo "special training camps" to perform "tasks in the field of defense" for a period of no more than 2 months. Corresponding amendments will be made to the laws "On Military Duty and Military Service" and "On the Status of Military Personnel".

The changes apply only to citizens who have concluded on a voluntary basis a contract to stay in the reserve, and do not apply to those in the reserve, explained RBC deputy chairman of the board of the Association of Lawyers of Russia Igor Cherepanov. At the same time, the tasks in which reservists will be involved can be very different - up to the Ukrainian front. The law has a clause on the use of the reserve outside Russia, and this applies, for example, to Sumy or Kharkov regions - there are hostilities there, but they are de jure outside the country, said the head of the Duma's defense committee Andrey Kartapolov.

The initiative looks like insurance in case mobilization is completed and more people are needed than can be recruited within the draft, Grigory Sverdlin, the founder of the "Go to the Forest" project, told "Agency": "It seems that they just untie their hands, as if they are giving themselves a free hand in this way".

The current legislation allows Russians in the mobilization reserve to be involved in real combat operations only within the framework of mobilization, and this requires mobilization commissions, which have been inactive since 2023, human rights activist Artyom Klyga notes. "We see that the authorities are avoiding the second wave of mobilization, so they need a different procedure under which they can use the mobilization reserve," Klyga said.

Kartapolov said the mobilization reserve includes people who either have a registered military specialty or those who have signed a contract with the Defense Ministry. "They sign a contract, receive a certain monetary remuneration for it, and continue to fulfill their [job] duties in the civilian life. But if necessary, they are subject to a priority invitation to the military commissariat and referral to training camps, to other various activities," Kartapolov explained. He added that now in the regions bordering Ukraine there are many citizens who are in the mobilization reserve.

According to Putin's decree on the creation of the mobilization reserve, it includes people who have signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense. The first contract is concluded for three years. The reservists undergo annual military training, during which time they are assigned jobs and employers are paid compensation for the absence of employees.

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