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-snip- Under the law, the Russian government now considers individuals legally summoned for military duty if a message has been sent to their personal accounts on Gosuslug, the state public services website, or if their name has appeared on a publicly available online list of those summoned. -snip- Simultaneously, the law calls for the creation of an electronic registry of all people required to serve. The registry will collect extensive personal data, such as name, address and passport details, as well as medical, education, tax, criminal, voting, and employment records from numerous government organizations, including the police and communal services...

Vladimir Putin appears to be clamping down on Russian men trying to dodge his invasion of Ukraine by creating a new digital conscription system which would leave them unable to flee abroad. -snip- Under the new plan, Russian men will start receiving draft papers by registered post and via their personal account on the 'Gosuslugi' online public services portal - the same site used to book doctor appointments or manage state pensions. The old system of delivering papers in person will also remain in place. The new rules will apply both to conscripts and to men who are targeted in...

Russia is ready to introduce electronic military draft papers for the first time in its history in an effort to make it harder for men to avoid being drafted after the lower house of parliament gave its backing to the move. The State Duma, the lower chamber, gave its backing to the necessary legislation in two separate votes. Some lawmakers complained the changes were being rushed through without giving them enough time to scrutinise the changes. -snip- NO SECOND MOBILISATION Peskov dismissed suggestions that the digitalisation plans might spark a further wave of panic and emigration among young male Russians...

Russian forces in Ukraine have failed to meet a key deadline for progress in eastern Ukraine ahead of a long-touted counteroffensive from Kyiv, according to a new assessment. Moscow did not manage to "achieve the Kremlin's goals" of exerting control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March 31, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said on Saturday. The two regions, which collectively make up the Donbas, saw fighting between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists break out in 2014. They have seen many of the heaviest clashes since the start of the all-out war in February...

Russia’s widely-anticipated winter offensive has begun. Aiming to extend its control over eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, Russian troops are attacking north and south of Donetsk city. In the northern sector, around the city of Bakhmut, the Russians slowly are advancing—albeit at staggering cost. In the south, around Vuhledar, the Russians’ losses are just as steep—but they’ve made no clear gains that could justify the casualties. Vuhledar is turning into a meatgrinder for the Russian army, with enormous implications for the wider offensive. The latest Russian attack on Vuhledar—a town with a pre-war population of just 14,000 that lies a mile...

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself held only a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation via videoconference. After the main part, the meeting continued in a narrow format. We discussed the state of affairs at the front and a number of related topics. The President was informed that in connection with the resumption of the offensive in a number of sectors of the front in the last five days, Russian troops have suffered heavy losses both in manpower and in equipment. Putin was also informed about the problems with the provision and the possibility...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia was being threatened by German tanks, like during World War Two, speaking at an event in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, marking the Soviet victory over Nazi forces in the city. 'It's unbelievable but true. We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks,' Putin said, adding that Russia had an 'answer' to any country that threatened it. Putin appeared to have brought his 'nuclear football' to Volgograd. Aides were seen close to the dictator carrying two black bags. Observers believed one was a fold-up shield to protect Putin in the event of shooting,...

Footage from a fierce ongoing battle around Vuhledar, southwest of Donetsk, shows Russian soldiers retreating after their five vehicles were hit by Ukrainian artillery. The Russian troops were forced to run away and leave their wounded crawling behind them after being struck by airburst ammunition. -snip- Russia is said to be planning a 'new pre-emptive strike' in Ukraine according to satellite photos which show Putin's forces building up fortifications. The new offensive will reportedly take place ahead of the first anniversary of their invasion on February 24.

Russian lawmakers on Monday proposed placing restrictions on citizens attempting to leave the country. Yevgeny Moskvichev, the head of Russia's State Duma Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development, put forward amendments to a transport law that would make it a requirement for Russian citizens, and others, to book a time and place in advance to cross the border. According to a copy of the legislative changes seen by Tass, Russia's state-run news agency, "Vehicles belonging to Russian transport companies, foreign transport companies, citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens, stateless persons and other road users" must reserve a date and...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, warned NATO on Thursday that the defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war. Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world. -snip- Asked if Medvedev's remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it absolutely does not mean that." -snip- Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church,...

Russia's defence ministry says its forces are taking part in the battle for Soledar, a town north of Bakhmut in east Ukraine which has been the focus of recent fighting. It comes after the head of Russia's notoriously brutal Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed his fighters were in full control there and boasted that only his troops took part. Mr Prigozhin will most likely use any victory to bolster the reputation of Wagner as an effective fighting force in the eyes of President Putin. But the Russian defence ministry appeared to contradict the controversial oligarch's claims. Spokesman Igor Konashenkov...

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was presented with the first report of the year, compiled by a group of experts under the Security Council of the Russian Federation. The analytical forecast of the situation on the front for the president is presented in a gloomy light. Experts believe that the big offensive that the military-political leadership of Russia is preparing for the end of winter and the beginning of spring this year will not bring significant results, and will only create a large number of problems. The authors of the report believe that the West and Ukraine are not only...

Russian troops attacking the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut are bogged down because of a tenacious Ukrainian resistance and an extensive network of defensive fortifications, the head of Russia’s mercenary company Wagner said Tuesday. There is a “fortress in every house” in Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview with state news agency RIA Novosti. “The lads are fighting over every house, sometimes for more than a day. Sometimes it takes them weeks to capture a house. They take one house, they take another.” Wagner soldiers — including inmates recruited from Russian prisoners — have been leading a Russian assault on...

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the Russian army must learn from and fix the problems it had suffered in Ukraine, promising to give the military whatever it needed to prosecute a war nearing the end of its 10th month. In a speech to defence chiefs in Moscow, Putin said there were no financial limits on what the government would provide in terms of equipment and hardware. "We have no funding restrictions. The country and the government are providing everything that the army asks for," he said. Putin acknowledged, not for the first time, that the call-up of 300,000...

(Free link) The battle for Bakhmut has become a bloodbath for both sides as Russia steps up its attempts to take what used to be a quaint, tree-lined city. Ukrainian defense officials said Moscow is losing around 50 soldiers a day to maintain a slow, bruising advance to reach the city’s easternmost gates. Snip If the Russians break through to take control of Bakhmut, it would open a path to the political and economic centers of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in the Ukrainian-held portions of the Donbas area, once one of the country’s main industrial regions. Moscow tried to seize the...

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that "all mistakes" made in a call-up to reinforce Russia's military operation in Ukraine should be corrected, his first public acknowledgment that the "partial mobilisation" he announced last week had not gone smoothly. There have been widespread public expressions of discontent from officials and citizens over the way the mobilisation has been handled, including complaints about enlistment officers sending call-up papers to clearly ineligible men. Thousands of men have fled Russia to avoid a draft that was billed as enlisting those with military experience and required specialities but has often appeared oblivious to individuals'...

Putin squirms in his seat as Belarus dictator Lukashenko rants about men 'running away' from mobilisation in Russia as huge traffic jams on Georgia border are captured in images from SPACE Belarusian president monologued and spouted rhetorical questions in his rant to Putin today in Sochi Putin sat silently, clearly uncomfortable, as he listened to his counterpart insisting that Russia would win war The call for mobilisation has proved wildly unpopular throughout Russia, sparking protests and a mass exodus Hundreds of thousands have already fled the country and traffic jams at several border checkpoints are visible from space This is...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Monday in Moscow, Belarus state media reported. Russia and Belarus are close allies, with Russia having used bases in Belarus as a staging post for its troops, aircraft and equipment in the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's two most senior lawmakers on Sunday addressed a string of complaints about Russia's mobilisation drive, ordering regional officials to get a handle on the situation and swiftly solve the "excesses" that have stoked public anger. President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two triggered protests across the country and seen flocks of military-age men flee, causing tailbacks at borders and flights to sell out. Multiple reports have also documented how people with no military service have been issued draft papers - contrary to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's guarantee that only those with special...