Sept 26,2022: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.
Valentina Matviyenko, the chairwoman of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, said she was aware of reports of men who should be ineligible for the draft being called up.
In a direct message to Russia’s regional governors – who she said had “full responsibility” for implementing the call-up – she wrote: “Ensure the implementation of partial mobilisation is carried out in full and absolute compliance with the outlined criteria. Without a single mistake.”
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower chamber, also expressed concern in a separate post.
The strongly pro-Kremlin editor of Russia’s state-run RT news channel also expressed anger that enlistment officers are sending call-up papers to the wrong men as frustration about the military mobilisation grows.
Russia’s first public mobilisation since World War II – needed to shore up its faltering Ukraine war – has triggered a rush for the border with hundreds of arrests and widespread unease among the population.
The move has also attracted criticism from the Kremlin’s own supporters, something almost unheard of in Russia since the invasion began.
Sept 22,2022:Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he did not believe the world would allow Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons after the Russian president said Moscow would use all means to protect its territory.
The Russian president on Wednesday ordered the biggest military mobilisation since World War II after Ukrainian troops made spectacular gains in a counteroffensive launched several weeks ago.
“I don’t believe that he [Putin] will use these weapons. I don’t think the world will allow him to use these weapons,” Zelenskyy said in an interview to TV channel of Germany Bild newspaper, referring to nuclear arms.
The Ukrainian leader said that there was a shrinking likelihood of holding talks with Putin to end the war, adding that it could only happen if the Russian president withdrew his forces from the country.
He warned that being cowed by Putin’s threats would invite Russia to attempt to take more territory. Moscow and separatists control large swaths of Ukraine’s northeast region, which is approximately 15 percent of its total territory.
UNITED NATIONS,Sept 19,2022:The United States accused Moscow of committing a war crime on Wednesday by forcibly deporting Ukrainians to Russia and said it has information that Russian officials are overseeing so-called filtration operations.
“These operations aim to identify individuals Russia deems insufficiently compliant or compatible to its control,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the U.N. Security Council.
She said estimates from a variety of sources, including Moscow, indicate that authorities have “interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported” between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians to Russia following the Russian invasion in late February.
In July alone Washington had information that more than 1,800 children were transferred from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine to Russia, Thomas-Greenfield said.
Sept 19,2022:The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that China has lodged “stern representations” with the United States, after U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
China reserves the right to take all necessary measures in response to activities that split the nation apart, said Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, at a regular media briefing.
“We are willing to do our best to strive for peaceful reunification. At the same time, we will not tolerate any activities aimed at secession,” Mao said.
She also urged the U.S. to handle Taiwan-related issues “carefully and properly”, and not send “wrong signals” to Taiwan independence separatist forces, warning the United States not to seriously damage Sino-U.S. relations and the peace in the Taiwan Strait.
“There is only one China in the world, Taiwan is part of China, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government of China,” said Mao.