Only The Elderly Are Being Sent Into Battle
- 24.08.2026, 4:40
The Russian military has begun assessing regional readiness.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Russian military has begun assessing the regions’ readiness for mobilization:
“Last month, Russian military personnel flew from St. Petersburg to the country’s Kaliningrad exclave, located between two NATO countries and the Baltic Sea. According to Western intelligence officials, officers there oversaw the planning of readiness and mobilization procedures for the region’s residents, as well as the details of how to house, feed, and arm them.”
The publication asserts, citing intelligence services, that similar activities are taking place in other regions as well.
The reason for this activity is simple: given the widespread use of drones on the LBS, the lifespan of soldiers has sharply decreased, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to replace them with new contract soldiers, writes the Telegram channel “SerpomPo”.
It has become so difficult that the media have begun reporting on increasing complaints from various regions of the country—from St. Petersburg to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast —regarding the detention of men under various pretexts and their subsequent coercion into signing contracts, as well as various fraudulent schemes used to force men—even those who are not particularly young or healthy—to sign contracts.
Subscribers from regions across the Russian Federation, in turn, report that men are being summoned to military registration and enlistment offices for so-called “document verification.” Moreover, this also applies to those who did not complete compulsory military service in the Russian Armed Forces, did not receive military training at university departments, have health limitations, and are over 40 years old
Experts interviewed by the WSJ have differing opinions. Some believe that a mobilization could be announced as early as the beginning of October, immediately after the State Duma elections (September 18–20). Others believe that mobilization on the eve of winter—when offensive operations are difficult to conduct—is pointless. Still others believe that there will be no simultaneous mass mobilization, as in 2022 when 300,000 people were drafted at once, but rather a so-called “creeping mobilization,” in which people will be drafted in “small batches.”
This may well be the case if the authorities do not want to further anger ordinary citizens, who—having experienced the reality of the “special military operation” firsthand (rising prices, gasoline shortages, and attacks on e-commerce platforms that have affected not only their shareholders but also hundreds of small business owners across the country), are increasingly supporting a transition to peace talks.
62%, according to an August poll by the Levada Center. And 44% (with another 12% undecided), according to a closed-door June poll by VTsIOM, which the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on in late July.
Among people aged 18–24, 79% support peace talks; a clear majority also favors negotiations among Russians in the 25–34 and 35–44 age groups.
It’s clear that those who could be drafted to fight are in favor of peace, while only the elderly are being sent into battle. And, given the exclusion of “Yabloko”—the only party advocating for peace—from the State Duma elections, and Putin’s recent statement that literally the entire society supports the continuation of hostilities, they will keep sending them into battle. Until the very end.