03 January 2023
8:49 pm
A little-known patriotic group supporting Russian military widows has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to order a massive mobilization of millions of troops and close borders to ensure victory in Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing BTA.
Putin has been under pressure to secure victory in Ukraine for more than 10 months since he sent troops there as part of an operation he says aims to protect Russians in Ukraine.
In a Telegram post, the “Military Widows Group in Russia” called on Putin to order a large-scale mobilization and ban men of military age from leaving Russia. “We have every moral right to ask such a thing, given that our husbands died protecting these men, but who would protect us if they fled the country?” the group said.
After Putin announced a “partial mobilization” on Sept. 21, the first since World War II, some 300,000 men were further mobilized and several hundred thousand fled abroad to avoid being called up to fight at the front.
So far the Kremlin has not responded to the group’s requests. Last month, Putin said there was no need for further mobilization. A spokeswoman for the widows’ group told Reuters that all capable men in Russia should be mobilized to defend their homeland. “The next war will require completely different resources: humanitarian, psychological, economic,” she said.
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