Russian DM Sergey Shoigu Announces end of Mobilization

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that on Friday that the partial mobilization campaign declared to boost the Russian military campaign in Ukraine has come to an end.

“The dispatch of citizens called up during mobilization was completed today. The notification of citizens [to report for military duty] has ended,” the state-run RIA Novosti quoted Shoigu as saying in a report to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The total number of the mobilized reportedly includes 1,300 government employees of various levels and over 27,000 business owners.

Russia had met the goal initially set by Putin and had mobilized a total of 300,000 reservists during the five week-long campaign, Shoigu said.

“13,000 citizens expressed the desire to fulfill their duty … as volunteers. The average age of mobilized citizens was 35 years old,” the minister said. 

To date, 82,000 mobilized reservists have already been sent to the frontlines in Ukraine, while the remainder are still undergoing military training, according to Shoigu. 

“I want to thank them for doing their duty [to the state], for their patriotism, for their steadfast determination to defend our country, our Russia, and therefore their home, their family, our citizens, our people,” RIA quoted Putin as saying in response to Shoigu’s report. 

Russia began its partial mobilization campaign on Sept. 21. Though the initial presidential decree on mobilization did not specify the number of reservists the Kremlin sought to mobilize, Shoigu has previously put the number at 300,000 people.