Are military conscription offices in Russia being torched by protesters?

Something strange is happening in Russia. Protest is banned, referring to ‘a war’ is punishable by up to 15 years in jail – but there are increasing signs of pushback. At least 12 military conscription offices appear to have been vandalised – some set on fire – since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. That’s according to the Ukrainian army, so we might take that with a pinch of salt. But there has been enough corroboration of this on Telegram (one of the few social media firms not blocked by the Kremlin) to take this seriously.

A look around Telegram shows buildings with varying degrees of damage, some having clearly been torched. We see offices broken and scorched doors and windows, while one video shows a firefighter inspecting the flooded interior of a recruitment office near Moscow. An independent news channel, Baza, has posted pictures from various places around Russia.