Russia's Rapid Mobilization Casts Doubt Over Putin's 300,000 Limit

Though Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that a partial draft would call up to 300,000 additional soldiers to fight in Ukraine, the already rapid pace of the mobilization has led to doubts that Russia will stop once it reaches its stated limit.

Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the main operational department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said at a briefing Thursday that since September 21, Russia has already conscripted 100,000 people.

"We understand that the announced figure of 300,000 is not final. The number of mobilized conscripts will most likely be far larger," Hromov said, according to an English translation of his comments.

In announcing the partial draft, Putin said that only Russian citizens currently in the reserves and those who have served in the Armed Forces with "certain military specialties and relevant experience" will be included in the mobilization. But there have already been several indications that these parameters are being broken.

Two Russian state media pundits, television host Vladimir Solovyov, Russian-state television host and Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of state-owned outlet RT, complained this week about some people purportedly outside the draft's age limit being conscripted.

"We all read that the first wave would consist of privates, sergeants and warrant officers up to the age of 35. But do I need to show you how many call-up papers are being distributed to 45 or 43-year-old privates?" asked Simonyan, according to an English translation provided by BBC journalist Francis Scarr.

Solovyov added that he had heard of a 62-year-old Russian civilian being drafted, though Newsweek was not able to independently confirm this.

Neither he nor Simonyan blamed Putin himself for these alleged breaches of the order, instead pointing toward lower-level recruitment officers.

A regional Russian governor also alleged on social media that Russian students had been mistakenly called up to fight in Ukraine. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said that he was making sure that those students were being returned home.

The Kremlin has already acknowledged that the draft has not been without issues.

"There are cases when the decree has been violated," Kremlin's spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov told reporters during a phone call on Monday, according to The New York Times. "In some regions, governors are actively working to correct the situation."

"These cases of noncompliance with the required criteria are being eliminated, and we hope that the rate of elimination will increase and all errors will be corrected," he added.

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.