In a speech to the nation on Wednesday morning, Putin ordered a partial mobilisation of 300,000 reservists for the military campaign in Ukraine, Poland’s niezalezna.pl website reported.
The Kremlin leader warned that Russia had "lots of weapons to reply" to what he described as Western threats, adding that he was not bluffing, according to the Reuters news agency.
'Thousands of Russian men will be thrown into meat-grinder of war'
Vesna (Spring), a Russian opposition group, called on the Russian public to take to the central streets in all of the country’s cities at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in protest against the mobilisation, as reported by niezalezna.pl.
“Thousands of Russian men - our fathers, brothers and husbands - will be thrown into the meat-grinder of war,” Vesna said.
It added: “What will they die for? Why will mothers and children shed tears for? For Putin’s palaces? Now war will truly reach every home and every family,” as cited by niezalezna.pl.
Russian stocks tumble
Meanwhile, Russia’s stock market crashed following Putin’s announcement, newsweek.com reported.
The MOEX Russia Index, a ruble-denominated benchmark of the Russian stock exchange, slumped as much as 10 percent on Wednesday, according to newsweek.com.
Moreover, within minutes after the Kremlin leader’s speech, Russians bought up all the day’s tickets for direct flights to Istanbul, Turkey, Tbilisi, Georgia and Yerevan, Armenia, niezalezna.pl reported.
'Life has a great sense of humor': Podolyak
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, took to Twitter to comment on Putin’s partial mobilisation order.
He wrote: “210th day of the ‘three-day war.’ Russians who demanded the destruction of Ukraine ended up getting: 1. Mobilization. 2. Closed borders, blocking of bank accounts. 3. Prison for desertion.”
Podolyak added: “Everything is still according to the plan, right? Life has a great sense of humor.”
He was referring to Russian lawmakers’ decision on Tuesday to toughen penalties for soldiers breaching duties, with desertion now set to be punishable by up to 10 years in prison, the Associated Press news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: niezalezna.pl, newsweek.com, apnews.com