Iran Press/ Europe: Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a partial mobilisation in Russia as the military operation in Ukraine reaches nearly seven months.
Efforts to begin partial mobilization will begin today, Wednesday, Putin announced. He said that a decree on partial mobilization has already been signed.
In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, Putin said he was defending Russian territories and that the West wanted to destroy the country.
“The goal of the West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country,” at start of a speech to the nation said Putin.
“They are already saying directly that they were able to split the Soviet Union in 1991 and now the time has come for Russia to break up into a multitude of regions and areas which are fatally hostile to each other.”
Putin’s address comes a day after Russian-controlled regions in eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to hold referendums on becoming integral parts of Russia.
The referendums, which have been expected to take since the first months of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, will start on Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.
Putin said he has signed a decree on the partial mobilisation, which is due to start on Wednesday.
“We are talking about partial mobilisation, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a certain military specialty and relevant experience,” he said.
“In order to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to conduct partial mobilization in the Russian Federation,” Putin said.
“After the Kiev regime actually publicly refused a peaceful solution to the Donbas problem today and, moreover, announced its claim to nuclear weapons, it became absolutely clear that a new next large-scale offensive in the Donbas, as it had already happened twice before, was inevitable,” said Putin.
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