Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of the armed forces on Wednesday. He made this decision after a proposal from the Ministry of Defense and signed the decree, he said in a television speech that had already been announced for Tuesday evening. Partial mobilization will begin this Wednesday.
“This is not a bluff”
“We will use all resources to defend our people,” Putin said, claiming: “The West wants to destroy our country. The West did not want peace between Ukraine and Russia.” He said “to the West: We have many weapons to answer. It’s not a bluff,” Putin said.
With the partial mobilization that had been expected by observers, the Kremlin chief is escalating the situation after the announcement of referenda on accession to Russia in four occupied Ukrainian territories. These are scheduled to start this Friday.
“We support the decision made by the majority of citizens in the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts,” Putin said in the TV speech, hinting at an annexation as in the case of Crimea in 2014.