> And of course by "All the Stops" Der Spiegel means many but not all.
To me it seemed very clear and easy to understand. The article summary, right on the second sentence, says in no ambiguous terms "He wants to avoid a general mobilization, so the military is relying on other methods."
The article then goes on how Russia's regime is resorting to very desperate measures to recruit troops, including posting fake general mobilization orders to deceive reservists.
Taken from the article:
> The Russian army is using all means at its disposal to find reinforcements. They are luring them with attractive offers, issuing threats and even simulating a general mobilization by sending out huge numbers of summons to reservists – which some, either out of ignorance or fear, interpret as a call up order.
> But an official call up can only take place once Putin declares a general mobilization. That, though, would be an indirect admission of his army’s weakness, a military force that had been considered vastly superior to Ukraine’s army prior to the invasion. More importantly, a general mobilization would have a more direct impact on the daily lives of Russians, which the Kremlin wants to avoid at all costs. The result has been a kind of veiled mobilization.
Right I love how their sub-headline immediately contradicts the headline by saying "He wants to avoid a general mobilization, so the military is relying on other methods."
It's also hard to know exactly how desperate for manpower the Russians really are, considering that the US was sending national guard and reserve forces to Iraq throughout the war, and there was plenty of talk of the US Army struggling to meet its recruitment goals.
OK but this war is not even at 4 months. How long did it take before national guard/reserve were sent to Iraq and before talk of US Army struggling to reach its recruitment goals? Surely it was much later?
Seeing that something like ONE-EIGHTH of the Russian Army's total forces are in action in the Ukraine (about 120K out of about one million), the article is more than likely to be clickbait propaganda.
Otherwise, what is Russia doing with the other 850,000 soldiers?
Mind you, it's always possible that those other 850,000 guys are on landing barges about to hit the beaches in Louisiana. /s
Russia has more than 200,000 forces in Ukraine right now. Lets not pretend that DPR/LPR "separatists" are anything but Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms. Remember the "separatists" involved in shooting down the Dutch plane in 2014 all turned out to be Russian soldiers.
The total number of combat ready soldiers in Russia's army is also far less than one million. More like 400k-500k.
Russia does not have a million soldiers. The total employed in the armed forces is about a million, including Air Force, Navy, logistics, mechanics etc. Actual men on the ground with rifles is much lower.
It's got about half of that combat troops, according to IISS Military Balance 2021, of which 400K are ground troops.
What they do however is rotate them very often. Reportedly they spend a week at a to,e on the battlefield, then they get rest for a week or two, etc.
This way their entire military gets actual combat experience, the troops are always fresh, and the moral is high. Same with equipment, regular maintenance, etc.
Which is basically why they are able to do the slow grind at the pace they want.
Hard to imagine someone who is conscripted, goes through training, now living under a military command structure is making much of a free choice when officers tell them they should sign up to go to Ukraine…
And that is why, even before Ukraine, the US military has been obsessed with creating a drone army, airforce and navy. They've already laid the ground work by militarising space - a planetwide network of satellites will form the future backbone of a drone military. They've experienced first-hand in Vietnam what happens when military is demoralised and of soldiers who were forced into it.
Could someone who has please confirm to me whether one of those "stops" consists of a veiled promise of increased probability of mating with attractive females, or is the chosen image simply news by association / framing effect on the part of Der Spiegel?
"Kirill Krechetov[...]asks that his real name not be used out of concern for his safety."
'He was initially contacted several weeks before the summons letter landed in his mailbox – in the form of a message sent via the messaging service Viber: Kirill Ivanovich, we are waiting for you, Krasnodarski Krai, 10th Brigade of the GRU Special Forces."'
Ivanovich is a common middle name. And in russian language, when you want to refer to someone in a formal way, you use "Firstname Middlename" (unlike "Mr Lastname" in english). That's how you would refer to your school teacher, to your boss, to an acquaintance/someone you dont know closely, how a bank teller would talk to you, etc.
I’d guess not. Ivanovich is the patronym of the pseudonym, the full pseudonym thus being Kirill Ivanovich Krechetov. Unless you meant Krasnodarski Krai which refers to a place, not a person.
Readit News
To me it seemed very clear and easy to understand. The article summary, right on the second sentence, says in no ambiguous terms "He wants to avoid a general mobilization, so the military is relying on other methods."
The article then goes on how Russia's regime is resorting to very desperate measures to recruit troops, including posting fake general mobilization orders to deceive reservists.
Taken from the article:
> The Russian army is using all means at its disposal to find reinforcements. They are luring them with attractive offers, issuing threats and even simulating a general mobilization by sending out huge numbers of summons to reservists – which some, either out of ignorance or fear, interpret as a call up order.
> But an official call up can only take place once Putin declares a general mobilization. That, though, would be an indirect admission of his army’s weakness, a military force that had been considered vastly superior to Ukraine’s army prior to the invasion. More importantly, a general mobilization would have a more direct impact on the daily lives of Russians, which the Kremlin wants to avoid at all costs. The result has been a kind of veiled mobilization.
It's also hard to know exactly how desperate for manpower the Russians really are, considering that the US was sending national guard and reserve forces to Iraq throughout the war, and there was plenty of talk of the US Army struggling to meet its recruitment goals.
Deleted Comment
Otherwise, what is Russia doing with the other 850,000 soldiers?
Mind you, it's always possible that those other 850,000 guys are on landing barges about to hit the beaches in Louisiana. /s
Russia has more than 200,000 forces in Ukraine right now. Lets not pretend that DPR/LPR "separatists" are anything but Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms. Remember the "separatists" involved in shooting down the Dutch plane in 2014 all turned out to be Russian soldiers.
The total number of combat ready soldiers in Russia's army is also far less than one million. More like 400k-500k.
What they do however is rotate them very often. Reportedly they spend a week at a to,e on the battlefield, then they get rest for a week or two, etc.
This way their entire military gets actual combat experience, the troops are always fresh, and the moral is high. Same with equipment, regular maintenance, etc.
Which is basically why they are able to do the slow grind at the pace they want.
Could someone who has please confirm to me whether one of those "stops" consists of a veiled promise of increased probability of mating with attractive females, or is the chosen image simply news by association / framing effect on the part of Der Spiegel?
Dead Comment
Wouldn't doxx him maybe the publication can be notified and rectify, HN is harder once your comment passes the time
'He was initially contacted several weeks before the summons letter landed in his mailbox – in the form of a message sent via the messaging service Viber: Kirill Ivanovich, we are waiting for you, Krasnodarski Krai, 10th Brigade of the GRU Special Forces."'
Uh, did they just expose his real name?
So, no, I doubt they doxxed him.