"Legitimate goals for the Armed Forces": how the first recruitment into the Russian army is taking place in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine

Ivan Fedorov, head of the Regional Military Administration of Zaporozhye, commenting on the call for recruitment in the occupied Ukrainian territories, pointed out that it is an international crime and a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. According to him, the promises of the occupation authorities that they will not send recruits to the front do not correspond to reality.

About how the first call for people from the occupied territories of southern Ukraine took place in the ranks of the Russian army, whether the recruitment is mass and where the conscripts will serve, how different the situation is in Mariupol and in the annexed Crimea - read more in the material of the Radio Freedom project "Novosti from Azov".

In the summer of 2022, the occupation officials of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions promised local residents that they would not be called up for military service in the Russian army for at least five years - neither by conscription nor by mobilization.

The editor of the Zaporozhye publication "Lokator-Media" Aleksandar Pilipenko told "Novosti Azovskogo regiona" that the occupation authorities were actively preparing for the invitation.

"We received the document in August. This was a letter that the occupying authorities of Berdjansk sent to the leaders of the so-called utility companies that they had formed. The so-called military mobilization department under this so-called administration. That is, the work was so active that they even created a separate department for it. And in this letter it was said that the managers of these companies should periodically provide them with data on those capable of military service. That is, the work began with workers of the occupation administration and utility workers, civil servants, with those about whom it is easiest to collect data and who are constantly in their field of vision, and those who 100 percent have Russian passports, because without them they would not be able to work ", Pilipenko explained.

"Whoever does not register - a fine"

As the editor of the Berdjan edition said, last year the occupying authorities created special commissions to solve the issue of employment of needed workers.

“In September 2023, we also received a copy of the letter marked 'for official use' from inside sources. In this letter, it was said that the so-called territorial commission for the registration of citizens was created under the occupation administration of the Zaporozhye region. And the letter was signed by Deputy Balicki. This letter was sent to all heads of occupation administrations of cities and villages of the Zaporozhye region. And it was also discussed that the occupying authorities provide quarterly information and data on workers of working age," says Pilipenko.

He noted that some of the work was done among farmers, where many of the workers were men. Data on them were also collected by the occupation authorities, and those who refused or avoided registration were fined. Finally, the situation reached a real call to the ranks of the Russian army.

According to Pilipenko, most of the Russian military recruitment centers were created in Melitopol and Berdyansk. But it is impossible to track how many people from the occupied territories were recruited into the Russian army. It is also difficult to find out exactly where they serve.

"Melitopolj because it is the center of the occupation authorities of the region. And Berdyansk - because it is a big city, actually the second most populous after Melitopol on the territory under the control of the Russian Federation. And this mobilization department covered not only Berdyansk, but also the Primorsky community. In this way, they show the imaginary support of the population. In addition, this is a repetition of the scenario both in the territories of the DNR and LNR groups, as well as in Crimea - one on one," Pilipenko pointed out.

Kherson region: "They are campaigning for a contract"

Julian Lučko, deputy of the General City Council of the Kherson region, said that the appeal is not widespread in this region. In general, the occupation authorities are agitating more for contract service in the Russian army.

"They mostly choose the marginal part of society. Those people who cannot take care of themselves in civilian life. There is no mass there. They (the authorities) encourage people to join them for contract service. They recruit people by offering them a higher salary and mislead them: they say that they will not be involved in the fighting, but will serve in the rear units," says Lučko.

According to his data, there are already dead among those residents of the occupied part of the Kherson region who previously joined the ranks of the Russian army.

"There are known cases when people have already died in active hostilities. I can't say for sure if they were trained or not, but I know there are already dead. Today they are calling everyone who would agree. So, it is not that the choice is small, but that there is no choice at all. And whoever agreed was invited," added the deputy.

 

Mariupol: "Mass conscription"

The adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Pyotr Andryushchenko, told "Novosti Azovski Region" that the occupation authorities had already sent a third invitation to this city.

"The first draft was a year ago, then it was spring, and now autumn. How is this call different from previous calls? It is, indeed, already realistic, that is, it is not a targeted selection of people, and we are not talking about ten or twenty people, but about a much larger [number]. What is known about this? It actually started in mid-October and became public, because the Russians formed the first group of conscripts, which they sent from the occupied territories to serve. Sročnikov from Donetsk and Lugansk regions - a representative shipment from the city of Bataysk (Rostov region of the Russian Federation - original author). In fact, the situation is such that they will gather 1,000 people in the occupied territories. "If only 15 people were recruited there last year, up to 100 were recruited in the spring, now they plan to recruit many more, hundreds of people," said the official.

 

"Risk will come first"

Despite the promises of the occupation authorities, recruits can be found in the immediate vicinity of the front line, says Andryushchenko.

According to him, conscripts from the occupied territories will serve in the military units of the annexed Crimea, the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region of the Russian Federation. However, it is possible that conscripts are sent to the occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

Russia is using the process of recruitment in the occupied territories to replenish its own resources for mobilization, according to Andryushchenko.

"People during the recruitment, in the first days, while they are being held in the army, while they are being examined in the military hospital, while they are waiting for allocation to military units, while this bureaucracy is going on, they are very aggressive, they are very actively convinced to change their status from conscript to soldiers. They are motivated by the fact that they will not be on the front line, they will receive a high salary. Fortunately, there are isolated cases of such contracts being entered into by conscripted men. But this is not of a mass nature," Andryushchenko said.

"Russian Federation Plan to Recruit 3,000 Residents in Crimea"

Analyst of the public organization "KrymSOS" Yevgeny Yaroshenko told "Novosti Azov" that this time they conducted the 20th recruitment campaign in Crimea. According to him, the Russian authorities are planning to mobilize 3,000 Crimean residents into the ranks of their army.

"Recruiting residents of the occupied territory into the army of the occupying state is a violation of Article 51.4 of the Geneva Convention and a war crime. "During the years of the occupation of Crimea, around 50,000 inhabitants suffered from this war crime," Yaroshenko said.

In Crimea, the occupiers are pressuring conscripts to join the Russian army for contract service, an analyst says. He also explained that signing the contract already implies the obligation to carry out the commander's orders, including combat tasks.

"And so the risk of death increases, and in the case of capture, it happens that it is difficult for the contracting parties to prove that this person did not voluntarily go to fight against Ukraine, if he has Ukrainian citizenship. And it is difficult to prove that it was forced. Therefore, this is a very serious warning that should be taken into account by all residents of the temporarily occupied territories", emphasized Yaroshenko.

The human rights defender noted that there is a risk of violence while serving in the Russian army, even if conscripts are not directly in the combat zone.

 

"The zone of combat operations is not limited to the so-called "SVO" zone (the Russian authorities call the war against Ukraine a "special military operation" - author's note). We see drones, Storm Shadow missiles, ATACMS attacking beyond the so-called. "SVO" zones. Some drones fly up to 1,000-1,500 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border. So, a combat conflict can be anywhere, where the weapon reaches. We see that after the entry of Ukrainian troops into the territory of the Kursk region, many conscripts died as a result of hostilities, some were captured. Russia, as a warring country, does not have secure military facilities. "For drones, Storm Shadow or ATACMS, it doesn't matter who the soldier is - conscript, contract worker, PMC "Wagner" member, forcibly mobilized person from the temporarily occupied territories or others, because they are all legitimate military targets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Yaroshenko emphasized. .

In October, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed a "resolute protest" against the forced mobilization of Ukrainian citizens into the Russian army in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The Ministry called on the citizens of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories to avoid such a "call" at all costs, and persons who are forcibly mobilized into the army of the aggressor state, at the first opportunity, leave such units and return to the territory of Ukraine or go to third countries.