Former Russian Space Chief Calls for Mobilization: 'The Enemy Is Stronger'

Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russia's space agency, called for President Vladimir Putin to declare a general mobilization, saying that Russia has a shortage of personnel in the war in Ukraine.

"We must bear in mind that the enemy is stronger than us...That's why we need a mobilization," Rogozin, the former Russian deputy prime minister under Putin and ex-director general of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, said on local radio station "Moscow Speaks" on Wednesday.

Putin removed Rogozin as head of the state-controlled space program in July 2022, giving no reasons for his dismissal. The 59-year-old, notable for his incendiary statements amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, had held the position since 2018.

After his dismissal from Russia's space agency, Rogozin said that he heads a group of military advisers called the "Tsar's Wolves" which is involved in providing "military-technical support" to the combat units of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics participating in Putin's Ukraine war.

"There shouldn't have been just one in the autumn, but another one too," Rogozin said, referring to Putin's September 2022 "partial mobilization" order, which came as Russia suffered major battlefield losses in Ukraine.

"We have problems with personnel because guys are being wounded, our fighters are being killed," he said. "We are losing combat-ready guys. They need to be replenished."

Rogozin's calls for mobilization come ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Ukraine to try to reclaim territory occupied by Russia.

Putin has so far declined to declare a full mobilization, which would put the nation on a war footing. However, his September 2022 order supposedly targeted 300,000 reservists and ex-military personnel with "certain military specialties and relevant experience."

The Russian leader said in October 2022 that this recruitment drive had been completed, but since then, military observers have assessed that Russian troops fighting in Ukraine are being boosted by a covert draft, because Putin fears the backlash that a widespread mobilization might cause.

Rogozin isn't the first Russian official to urge Putin to announce a fresh mobilization drive.

Last month, Mikhail Sheremet, a lawmaker in Russia's lower-house State Duma and a member of the ruling United Russia party, suggested that his country can't defeat Ukraine in the ongoing war unless the Russian president announces a "general mobilization."

"There must be a general mobilization. We must fight 'with the whole world,' as they say, and everyone must feel their belonging together with the country," Sheremet said. "At the moment [mobilization] is quite possible."

The Kremlin has so far denied rumors that Putin may announce another wave of mobilization.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.