The head of military recruitment in a Russian Far East region has been suspended from his job, a local official said Monday, after thousands of people were mistakenly called up to fight in Ukraine.
“The military commissar of the Khabarovsk region Yuri Laiko has been suspended from his duties. This will not affect the goal that the President has set for us,” Governor Mikhail Degtiariov said in a video on Telegram.
He did not give the exact reason for this suspension, but indicated that it was associated with numerous errors.
“In ten days, several thousand of our compatriots received summonses and went to military police stations. We sent about half of them home because they didn’t meet the eligibility criteria to join the army,” the governor said.
“The partial mobilization affects only the categories established by the Department of Defense and the President. Any abuse must be punished,” he added.
On September 21, Vladimir Putin ordered a “partial” mobilization for combat in Ukraine, where the Russian army is in trouble. Officially, there must be 300,000 reservists with military experience or useful skills.
However, several cases of mobilization of the elderly, students, the sick or conscripts without military experience have been reported, leading to dissatisfaction and reactions from the authorities.
Last week Vladimir Putin called for the correction of the “mistakes” in the mobilization, which also triggered demonstrations in Russia and the flight of thousands of men abroad.