Former Russian Defense Minister Dmitry Rogozin, now head of a Russian private military company “Wolves of the Tsar”, has asked to launch the second wave of mobilization because “the enemy is stronger than us”. He added that the Russians have manpower problems, because frontline soldiers are being wounded and killed. The only way to avoid the second wave of mobilization is to recruit volunteers in sufficient numbers, but this must be done “in a more efficient and faster way”. Rogozin also envisages the formation of an entire Russian Volunteer Army.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the decree on the recall of reservists for training. A large part of the decree is classified and it is not known how many reservists will be called up and for how long. According to Russian law, reservists can be called up once in 3 years for up to 2 months at a time. Furthermore, the maximum period of training in the whole life cannot exceed a total of 12 months.
Putin’s current decree specifies the categories that will be exempt from the call to exercise.
According to some experts, there may be a hidden mobilization behind the call up of the reservists. During the exercises, the legal status of the citizen can be changed: some can be promoted in the field to non-commissioned officers or officers and are then subject to military service not until the age of 50 (as simple soldiers), but up to 60 years as non-commissioned officers and officers . On the other hand, citizens who have not performed military service because they are not fully fit, for health reasons or for family reasons, therefore do not have military qualifications and therefore not subject to mobilization, can be assigned military qualification following the exercises, automatically making them subject to eventual mobilisation
Furthermore, the precept card for mobilization can be delivered directly to the exercise areas, or to the reservists’ assembly points, when they will be gathered in one place and with no way out.