It should come as no surprise that Putin [Pu-truschev] is now exhorting Russian women,
" .... to have eight or more children and make large families “the norm” amid soaring numbers of casualties in his war against Ukraine.
...
Russia’s birth rate has been steadily falling since the 90’s and the country has suffered more than 300,000 casualties since the start of the Ukraine conflict, according to data maintained by Kyiv."
...
Yet Putin's [Pu-truschev's] realization that his war with Ukraine is further exacerbating the the falling birth rate in Russia seems not to have quite dawned upon him.
Underscoring Putin's [Pu-truschev's] ignorance that "it takes two to tango" when it comes to boosting birth rates he has, nonetheless, decided that,
".... the Russian government approved a resolution to bring the regulatory framework in the field of military registration into line with changes to legislation adopted by parliament, Deutsche Welle reports, citing the Interfax agency. According to these changes, men aged 18 to 30 will begin to be conscripted into the Russian army from January 1, 2024. Until now, the maximum age of conscripts was 27 years.
With the new age limits, approximately 2 million more Russian men will be drafted in 2024 than would have been the case with the previously active age framework (blog entry: 26 November 2023 : Charter97 )
thus further potentially diminishing "the tango partner of Russian women" in the birth rate stakes as yet more body bags of Russian men pile up in his war with Ukraine.
"A Russian soldier said that more than 1,000 of his comrades were killed during a 10-day period while fighting in Donetsk, according to a video shared by a Ukrainian official on Tuesday.
...
In it, Gennadievich said that his regiment was suffering "heavy losses," according to Gerashchenko's translation, adding that: "I was absent there for 10 days. [During this time], they had over 1,000 killed." (Business Insider : 29 November 2023) (my emphasis)
No doubt deeply concerned by the potential backlash of Russian women as yet more of their men are drafted to feed the slaughter of Russian men in Ukraine, VOA News earlier reported that,
"Large elements of the Wagner mercenary Group have "likely" been absorbed into the command structure of Russia’s National Guard (Rosgvardiya), the British Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence report on Ukraine." (VOA News : 12 November 2023) (my emphasis)
Let us recall that in April of 2016,
"Russia has announced it will now form a new paramilitary fighting force, the National Guard, which can effectively be used for non-conventional warfare if need be. This comes as the Russian Federation is heavily involved in ongoing conflicts in both Ukraine and Syria among other countries.
This National Guard will be directly answerable to Putin himself, and will become a substitute for the current Russian soldiers fighting in eastern Ukraine. This para-military force is indistinguishable from the Russian armed forces, as was the case during the Chechen wars, primarily to make their presence less controversial than his Russian soldiers now active in eastern Ukraine." (blog entry : 14 April 2016)
"This new para-military force of Putin's also signifies a growing anxiety of Putin and his kleptocratic 'siloviki' clique about the growing discontent among the Russian people because of their increasing impoverishment as the Russian economy continues on its downward spiral." (ibid blog entry : 14 April 2016 )
Then, as now, Putin [Pu-truschev] is beefing up his National Guard through fear of how the people of Russia, especially the women of Russia, will respond to 2 million more Russian men being drafted in 2024.
As reported by Joshua Askew,
Support for the Ukraine war in Russia has hit rock bottom, according to a recent poll.
The independent pollster Chronicle found that the number of Russians who fully support the invasion has almost halved since February 2023." (Euro News : 2 December 2023) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Alice Scarsi, Will Stewart, Oli Smith : Express : 1 December 2023)
"Ukraine’s security service blew up railway connections linking Russia to China, in a clandestine strike carried out deep into enemy territory, with pro-Kremlin media reporting that investigators have opened a criminal case into a “terrorist attack.”
The SBU set off several explosions inside the Severomuysky tunnel of the Baikal-Amur highway in Buryatia, located some 6,000 kilometers east of Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the operation told POLITICO.
“This is the only serious railway connection between the Russian Federation and China. And currently, this route, which Russia uses, including for military supplies, is paralyzed,” the official said." (Politico : 1 December 2023) (my emphasis)
Calling for Russian women to have large families whilst his forces are been pounded in his war with Ukraine, Putin [Pu-truschev] is now scraping the bottom of his 'ideological' barrel in desperation.
UPDATE : 3 December 2023
James Kilner now reports that,
...
“The promises turned out to be empty,” it said on the Telegram social messaging platform. “We have been betrayed by our own people.”
The women said that when they waved goodbye to their men during a mobilisation round in September 2022, they were promised that they would be home within a few months.
Instead, most Russian soldiers have not been given a break and when they complain, they are thrown into punishment pits." (The Telegraph : 2 December 2023) (my emphasis)
UATV : 1 December 2023 : YouTube
And Putin's [Pu-truschev's] response, as reported by Brendan Cole ,
"However, the Kremlin is responding to the increasing criticism, according to the British Ministry of Defense. In its daily update, the MOD on Saturday said that the group was given a fake warning label, "likely at the instigation of pro-Kremlin actors."
...
This was part of a ploy by Russian authorities in "attempting to quash public dissent" from the angry wives by trying to pay them off and discrediting them online.
"Research by independent Russia media outlets and comments by protesting wives themselves suggest that, in recent weeks, the authorities have likely offered increased cash payments to families in return for them refraining from protest," the defense officials said." (Newsweek : 2 December 2023) (my emphasis)
rather underscores his 'ideological' contempt for those protesting Russian mothers.
No comments:
Post a Comment