“There Russia plans to build an army of 2 million people by successive waves of mobilization”. This is the latest alert from theUkrainian Secret Service (Gur) based on the scale of mobilization taking place on Russian territory. Meanwhile, according to British intelligence reports, Moscow is using the labor of prisoners in prison to increase arms production, which is vital to the continuation of military operations in Ukraine.
The Kiev alarm
According to forecasts from Kyiv, they would have been enrolled at the first recruitment 300 thousand people. The GUR does not rule out that the Kremlin will announce another one mobilization in the next few days, this time others will record it 500,000 Russians You could join the military.
In addition, the magnitude of these measures would indicate i plans of Russia to create an army of about two million people, compared to the original goal of 1.5 million soldiers.
There are even mobilization initiatives underway in the country, including changes in law and the preparation of educational centers. Gur himself recalled that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has since banned all potential conscripts – apparently the majority of men of military age – from leaving the country January 9th.
Most draft-age men had previously received permission to leave Russia, but those who had received or were about to receive a subpoena from a military enlistment office were barred from leaving the country.
“Mobilization still ongoing”
On September 21, Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of 300,000 conscripts for the war against Ukraine. On October 28, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoiguhe said Russia managed to mobilize 300,000 people with an average age of 35.
On October 31, the Russian President announced the end of the mobilization without signing one decree to officially end it. In December, Putin himself denied that Moscow was planning any further mobilization, but the Kyiv Independent instead argues that the Kremlin is continuing the mobilization covert recruitment.
“The military intelligence of Ukraine does not rule out that the Russian leadership will announce the next wave of mobilization in the coming days. 500,000 Russians will come out of the Russian Federation and this will allow the terrorist country to establish itself Strategic Reserves” wrote the intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in a Facebook post.
“In Russia, preparations are already underway for the announcement of the next wave of mobilization. At the legislative level, changes are being made to the laws of the Russian Federation that regulate mobilization. There is also one active preparation of educational centers,” Kyiv added.
Flies hunt men?
As mentioned, another intelligence service has analyzed Russia’s movements in detail. “The Russian defense sector will most likely resort to using it prison work in an effort to meet wartime production requirements. In November 2022, Uralvagonzavod (UVZ), Russia’s largest tank manufacturer, told local media that it would hire 250 detainees after meeting with the Federal Criminal Police Office (FSIN),” the news agency said in its daily update.British Secret Service.
There is, as the UK 007ers recall, “a long tradition of prison labor in Russia, but since 2017 forced labor has been reintroduced as a specific criminal punishment”. The Federation Penal Service manages one of the largest prison populations in the world, with over 400,000 inmates, but has “often been accused of extreme brutality and corruption”.
In the absence of volunteers, the analysis goes on, “the inmates’ work is in particularly high demand from producers weapons relatively low-tech like UVZ, who are almost certainly under intense pressure from Moscow to ramp up production.”