Russian Enlistment Offices Are Being Torched Amid Mobilization
Military enlistment offices across Russia are being set on fire days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of the country’s military reservists for the war in Ukraine.
On Sunday, Kyiv Independent reported that military registration and enlistment offices in the city of Kirovsk in Leningrad Oblast, Chernyakhovsk in Kaliningrad Oblast, and the republic of Mordovia were all set ablaze.
In Kirovsk, a report from 47news says that an unknown person drilled a hole through a window of the 10-square-meter office, and inserted a hose to gradually supply fuel from a canister attached to the grate. The fire was put out by the night watchman and the arsonist has yet to be caught.
In the incidents in Chernyakhovsk and Mordovia, meanwhile, Molotov cocktails we reported to have started both fires. The suspect for the Chernyakhovsk incident is reportedly in custody. No one was injured in either incident.
Just two days before, five other enlistment offices were reportedly set on fire. These incidents are the most recent in at least two dozen cases of arson targeting enlistment offices across Russia since Putin’s announcement on September 21.
Putin’s recent announcement implies the Kremlin’s acknowledgment of its mounting losses in Ukraine. Apart from enlistment office fires erupting across the nation, many have also protested the partial mobilization in the streets, only to be reportedly detained and then conscripted thereafter — or have since fled the country, or attempted to before Putin ordered airlines to stop selling tickets to men of conscription age.
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