Russia is grabbing men off the street to fight in Ukraine

[speak easy]

Source: Washington Post

Police and military officers swooped down on a Moscow business center this past week unannounced. They were looking for men to fight in Ukraine — and they seized nearly every one they saw. Some musicians, rehearsing. A courier there to deliver a parcel. A man from a Moscow service agency, very drunk, in his mid-50s, with a walking disability.

“I have no idea why they took him,” said Alexei, who, like dozens of others in the office complex, was rounded up and taken to the nearest military enlistment office, part of a harsh new phase in the Russian drive.

In cities and towns across Russia, men of fighting age are going into hiding to avoid the officials who are seizing them and sending them to fight in Ukraine.

Police and military press-gangs in recent days have snatched men off the streets and outside Metro stations. They’ve lurked in apartment building lobbies to hand out military summonses. They’ve raided office blocks and hostels. They’ve invaded cafes and restaurants, blocking the exits.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/16/russia-mobilization-men/

[walkingman]

1. Reminds me of my draft notice in 1968 during the Vietnam War. Bad shit.

[Schmice3]

15. x 2

[Lasher]

21. Me too.

But at least we didn't literally get snatched off the street.

[Warpy]

59. I had a lot of friends who disappeared into Canada that year

and the two years after that, which were the peak of that shit show. I don't think any of them ever came back here and having seen that, I don't expect many of the Russians who have left to go back to Russia, they're just done with a country that treats them that way.

The last thing I ever want to see in this country is any other president given full access to another generation of young men unless there has been an invasion onto our soil.

I'm a firm believer in an all volunteer army. That's what kept us out of a disastrous war against Iran in the 00s.

[gay texan]

2. to them, it's all about the quotas n/t

[ffr]

3. And republicans want to bring Putin's style here.

Can we send the GOP sympathizers from here there to fill Putin's war recruitment quota?

Could cut through a lot of red tape for the MAGAs.

[Traildogbob]

16. And A promise

Of citizenship, in a motherland that rejects all non whites. No libs, gays, trans, unions, lefty lying fake news. A paradise. Just serve, No stupid voting, ammo and guns provided, real military cloths, no Walmart camo. Everything they dream of. I say ship all the insurrectionist there and drop em ashore. I bet Putin would take them immediately.
Then send more weapons to Ukraine to take em all out. For the good of the world.

[getagrip_already]

35. Well, they aren't supplying guns or ammo....

Or boots or uniforms. Or food. Or sleeping bags tents. Or even transport.

Oh, and they charge your family for the cost of bringing your body back when you get killed.

[Traildogbob]

44. Wow.

And trump loves Putin and his control over HIS military. HIS Generals. We could balance our. Budget here if we used those management skills for our military. Sounds like a Steve Bannon wet dream.

[getagrip_already]

57. The Russian people pay for it...

Corruption keeps the troops from getting it.

So our deficit wouldn't shrink, but a lot of magats would be much richer.

[Rebl2]

27. Great idea

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. It's Steve Bannon strategy: "flood the zone with shit". Sociopaths don't care about cannon fodder.nt

[Traildogbob]

5. Maybe

They should do some “Uncle Vlad Needs you” recruiting commercials on the Tuckums show or all Fox shows. “Come fight for the Motherland, Trump will March down to their CAPITAL with you”.
All the trump militias could go play soldiers and do some shootin, for some freedom. Tell em they will be welcomed as liberators. Worked before.

[Botany]

6. Someody has to kill Putin ASAP

30% of Russians do not have indoor plumbing and Putin is living billion dollar homes he got
by stealing money from the Russian people and now this shit?

[LiberalFighter]

7. Will the "enlisted" shoot their commanding officers?

[ShazzieB]

14. I'd expect some of them will.

In fact, I'd be very surprised if they don't.

[Botany]

18. They are already doing just that

https://charter97.org/en/news/2022/10/13/519719/

Russian Conscripts Killed Commander And Handed Arms To AFU Near Kherson

And some of the Belarusian and Chechen forces Putin brought in are now fighting w/the
Ukrainians against the Russians.

Some of Chechnya's Troops brought to Ukraine by Putin/Russia are fighting for Ukraine too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/12/ukraine-chechen-fighters-russia/ Click on Link and look @ Chechen Mr. Bandera
.... Hello Ivan this fella wants to see you.



Chechen troops who are fighting for Ukraine. Those are some tough looking mother f*****s.

[onetexan]

58. darn those Chechens fighting for the UKR. Who knew they'd turn against the rotten scoundrel putin

& his lapdog Kadyrov. Slava Ukraini!

[Botany]

63. Turns out that some of the Chechens now fighting the Russians in Ukraine are really Crimean Tatars

.... and their families had their roots in Crimea until the Soviet Union/Russia deported them to
Chechnya or they moved to other countries and they now see this war as a chance to reclaim
their homeland. They are fearsome fighters and they don't like Russians.

[onetexan]

65. AMAZING! Thank u for posting!

[OnlinePoker]

8. A couple of days ago, they grabbed the co-pilot of a plane heading to Turkey...

...from the cockpit. The plane couldn't leave and the flight was delayed by 7 hours. Hell of a way to run a war. It kind of reminds me of the opening scene of Enemy at the Gates where they just filled rail cars with untrained bodies and sent them to the front. Somehow, I doubt any of the Oligarch's sons are being rounded up for Putin's (mis)adventure.

[erronis]

45. Oh, the oligarchs' sons are rounded up too, if putin has had enough of that one.

Of course, the oligarch and the rest of his family are either already dead, going to be murdered, or have tried to find shelter in another country.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. My GGF was a socialist in czarist Russia.

He immigrated here to avoid conscription.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. "When a nation dwarfs it's people, it finds no good thing can be accomplished with small people."

Russia would be so much greater if it hadn't consistently for centuries forced many of its best and brightest to leave.

[Dustlawyer]

23. I have a Russian son-in-law whose family were physicists that immigrated here when

Putin started to rise. He was 16 when they came over, now he’s 37.

[mahina]

40. What is a GGF?

Thank you

[erronis]

46. Guessing Great Grand-Father.

I still don't get BFF, LOL.

[mahina]

48. TYVM

IBGWTD

(Thank you very much! I better go walk the dog)

[no_hypocrisy]

50. Great Grandfather

[BonnieJW]

47. My grandfather

was a Jew in Czarist Russia. Jewish boys were conscripted into the Russian army at the age of 13 for a period of 25 years. It was a quiet way of extermination. Most 13 yo boys did not survive the march in winter to the training camps, let alone 25 years as a soldier. It's why Jewish families hid the birthdays of their sons. My grandfather never knew his birthday so he picked George Washington 's birthday after he and my grandmother emigrated to America

[mucifer]

52. My Jewish grandfather was from Kyiv he

Deserted the army during WW1. and somehow made it to Chicago where he had some family

[dixiegrrrrl]

66. good lord....

Never heard about that. Wonder if it was limited to just Russia.

[Farmer-Rick]

10. Wow, what Kingly powers the Russians have given Putin

To drag men off the street, to force men into the military, to snatch up any man walking pass. To lurk in alleys and hallways waiting to snatch up men unaware. These are how Kings and Lords filled their military ranks. These Kingly powers are particularly useful for manning ships.

It's not like these people he's snatching up have lives, vote or have input into their Kleptocracy. They are useless eaters in Putin's eyes. Might as well use them as cannon fodder. And he's NOT paying them.

Trump looks on with envy.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Press gangs. One factor triggering the US and Russian Revolutions of 1776 and 1917 . . . nt

[Farmer-Rick]

51. Yeah,

It has a long history.

[Corgigal]

61. I havent even read about Press Gangs.

Worst two words I have read, lately, that have been put together.

Wow, I’m am American. I can’t imagine.

[IronLionZion]

19. As Putin impacts more people who have some influence and resources

there should be more support to remove him from office. When he has too many enemies, he can't arrest or kill all of them.

[Aristus]

22. Putin is Tsar in all but name.

I wonder if this will kill the fetish going on in Russia among some people calling for a return of the Tsar. A lot of those sheep, falling down and rendering glad hosannas in the churches and at the tombs of the Tsars, hoping for their return. I want to tell these hammerheads "Yeah, the Russian Revolution turned into a shit-show. But do you remember why they rose up in the first place? It wasn't because Nicholas II was considered a paragon of enlightened rule."

[speak easy]

34. czar Caezar, kaiser Kaesar

et tu Brute

[mahina]

41. But only for two more weeks though

Right?

[Lonestarblue]

13. And still the Russian people do not rise up and demand change.

Fear of the police state is, of course, a powerful motivator to stay silent. I’ve always been curious, though, about what action finally ignites quiet grumblings into a conflagration of protest. The protests in Iran erupted after the Morality Police beat a young woman to death for not wearing her head scarf properly. Other women have been harassed and hurt, and Iran’s regime has certainly killed many other citizens with its brutality. Why was this the spark?

And what could be the spark for Russians to finally acknowledge that their leader is unfit and is causing great damage to their country? Or are Russians too cowed ever to create any uprising, no matter what happens? From the outside looking in, they seem remarkably passive.

[Haggard Celine]

28. Russia has always been ruled by a strong man,

whether it's been a czar or Communist Party General Secretary or some other sort of monarchy. Same for Iran. They just don't have any experience or history to draw from when it comes to to comparing democracy with dictatorship. There are probably a lot of people who prefer a monarchy, just as long as it isn't too oppressive.

But it is interesting to see what is the catalyst that leads people to say enough is enough. What is the breaking point? Why now, after all these years? I think people can sense when there's a weakness, and they exploit it when they can. We'll see what becomes of it.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

31. Parting a drunk Russian man in his mid50's from his vodka is a step too far!

[ShazzieB]

17. Snatching people off the streets?

What a nightmare. What a godawful freaking nightmare. 😱

[Alexander Of Assyria]

33. Even disabled drunk men in their 50s shipped to the front!! It's unbelievable!!

[Shop olive]

20. Why hasn't Edward Snowden been recruited?

He's a Russian citizen.

[raccoon]

24. Does Russia have a draft? Nt

[speak easy]

25. Yes.

This press-ganging is of ppl who were previously drafted = just about everybody.

[Shop olive]

53. they say it's limited but

they’re lying.

[HubertHeaver]

26. It would seem the press-gangs have a quota to fill.

If they don't meet their quota, they fill it personally.

[G2theD]

29. This is just going to lead to mass desertions.

[Warpy]

30. One escapee had a great story

about a business that was hit by these goons a second time, that the goons demanded all men in the business be rounded up and the women looked at each other and told them women were all that were left there.

The guys who ran would seem to be the smart ones, they knew damned full well Putin is bonkers and this horror show was headed their way.

What the goons don't seem to realize is that they're next on the list, they're headed for the front, too. I don't fancy their longevity when they have to serve with the men they ripped out of jobs and off the street.

Imagine what conscription on this scale is going to do to the economy.

[speak easy]

36. 'What the goons don't seem to realize is that they're next on the list'

What the goons do realize is that they're next on the list if they don't meet their quotas.

[Warpy]

42. And next on the list after their quotas are met

and their usefulness ended except as more cannon fodder for Putin's holy war, which is what this is to him. He doesn't care what happens to Russia, he's got that paragraph from Gogol that says Russia will continue, no matter what, that runaway troika is unstoppable. He's got a stable of religious crackpots and charlatans who have convinced him Russia should rule Europe, presumably after it has killed off everybody else. Plus, he has his own megalomania, vanity and paranoia.

IOW, he's bonkers.

[RussBLib]

54. no wonder T**** liked him nt

[brush]

32. Shanghaied...straight our of the days of sailing ships...

using crimps to supply crews to ship captains.

[patphil]

37. Nothing says desperation like grabbing people off the street to fight an offensive war.

We're not talking about a threat to Russia; no need to defend the motherland. This is an all out war of aggression against a nation that posed no threat to Russia...never a popular idea.
I can't think of a better way to poison Putin's popularity with his own people.

[Pepsidog]

38. Ukraine has, and should continue, to make it known that any Russian who is forced to fight can

surrender to Ukrainian forces and will be treated humanely.

[onetexan]

39. Asking for of the same scenario where the conscripts w

Be forced to shoot their leaders & surrender to the UKRs.

[calimary]

43. I can't help wondering if some of these men could play along with this, until

they get closer to the battle zone and then somehow fall back, or wander away, or disappear, or play dead, or seek shelter where they can join the Ukranians, or ...

Any way to take advantage of what must surely be quite a bit of chaos and disorganization as they're swooped up, given a few days "training," and then aimed at the eventual meat-grinder. I'd wonder about maybe falling back and kinda getting lost in the woods and then running for cover or hiding out until they can surrender to the other side?

[Justice matters.]

49. Well, THAT's going to sink the russian economy further down...

Imagine these civilians usually have a civilian job (if they have one).

Who's gonna replace them in the workforce??

[orleans]

55. so many of trump's magat dumb asses are pro putin

just b/c trump is

so they support this crap?

can you just IMAGINE how they'd be crying and shitting bricks if our government collected them up from their miserable lives and tossed them into a fucking war zone?

[IBEWVET]

56. Claim to have bone spurs, works for some N/T

[keithbvadu2]

60. the Russian draft board

the Russian draft board

they wait in the lobby of your apt building

here they are chasing a new recruit through the parking lot.

planning ahead, they had guys further out in the parking lot.

running is part of the physical.
.

Link to tweet

[Smackdown2019]

62. If they are that bad in recruitment....

If they are that bad in recruitment, an overthrow or invasion into Russia heart would be an end-game. Sounds to me that he is fighting with Afghanistan USSR equipment, with an army that is ill-prepared against the men that FOUGHT in those Afghanistan USSR equipment. Needlessly to say, Russia will FALL by Christmas!

[twodogsbarking]

64. In the US they just go to high schools to get recruits.