Is Vladimir Putin finally about to announce a second mobilisation wave? Ukraine has been warning for weeks that up to half-a-million more troops could be forced into the army. Jitters are growing in Russia that a call-up might be imminent: rumours are circulating that the Kremlin might shut Russia’s borders and resort to a second round of mobilisation. The Kremlin has denied these reports: but Putin is increasingly getting desperate. He needs to find a way to turn this war around. He also needs to fulfil defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s quota that an army of approximately 1.5 million is needed ‘to guarantee the fulfilment of tasks to ensure Russia’s security’ – and defeat Ukraine.
Russia has made no secret of its desire to expand its military capabilities in the coming months. Igor Strelkov, a pro-Kremlin military blogger and former politician, has said another round of enforced conscription looks likely: ‘I think there will be a second wave of mobilisation – we will need to carry it out, and maybe also a third wave, to win in Ukraine,’ he recently said.
Russia has made no secret of its desire to expand its military capabilities in the coming months
‘One should not take Telegram channels in general so seriously,’ the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
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