Russian Official Rips Putin's Desperate Forced Draft Effort: 'Lawlessness'

As reports circulated, a Russian official harshly criticized Moscow civilians being apprehended with draft papers in an attempt to boost the numbers of conscripts in President Vladimir Putin's army.

Kirill Kabanov, a member of Russia's Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC), wrote on Telegram Friday that he had received a complaint from a Russian worker who had been "detained during a 'raid' on draft dodgers."

"According to him, they grabbed everyone and stated that there should be a certificate that there is a reservation," Kabanov wrote. He decried the "lawlessness" of such actions and stressed that they were "creating a hostile attitude in society."

"I thought that the stories about the 'raids' were fake, but I was informed by people whom I personally know and completely trust," he added. "I will ask the Chairman of the HRC to apply to the prosecutor's office for a legal assessment. And it is difficult to assess the moral and socio-political harm and consequences of such actions."

As he faced a series of setbacks in his war in Ukraine, Putin announced a partial mobilization last month that he said would call up to 300,000 additional soldiers to fight in the conflict, and would be limited to Russian citizens currently in the reserves and those who have served in the Armed Forces with "certain military specialties and relevant experience." But a host of reported issues have already stemmed from the draft order as the Russian president attempts to give his faltering troops a boost in the monthslong war.

Following the mobilization announcement, protests against the draft broke out across Russia. The independent human rights media project OVD-Info reported that there were at least 2422 detentions at anti-mobilization protests between September 21 and 26. And in the first two weeks alone after the mobilization was announced, more than 370,000 Russian citizens fled the country into neighboring nations, Newsweek previously reported.

The Kremlin has also acknowledged that there have been problems with the draft criteria being breached.

"There are cases when the decree has been violated," Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a phone call late last month, 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.

Now, draft workers may be taking part in a final push to add manpower, since Putin told reporters Friday that the mobilization will be completed in about two weeks, according to Russian-state owned news agency TASS.

"Now 222,000 men out of 300,000 have been mobilized," TASS quoted him as saying.

Putin also said that he didn't see any need for expanding the mobilization order in the near future, and stated that outdated registration methods were to blame for the draft mistakes.

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.