Putin's Ukraine escalation fuels unease in Russia

President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization order fueled fears from some Russians that they would soon be sent to fight in Ukraine.

LONDON — The Kremlin has for months fought to maintain a sense of domestic normalcy while pursuing its faltering war in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of a “partial mobilization” has, for some Russians at least, shattered that illusion. 

By the time Putin’s recorded announcement was done playing on TV on Wednesday, Russians were scrambling to buy the last available flights out of the country and opposition groups were calling for protests as his order bred a sense of unease at home, just as his nuclear threats sought to do abroad.

By late evening, more than 1,300 people had been detained at protests denouncing the move, a rights group said.

For the first time, many draft-age Russian men and their families are contending with the prospect of fighting and dying in a conflict the Kremlin just intensified. It’s a line Putin has seemed loath to cross despite growing pressure, one that analysts warned could backfire on the Kremlin.

Riot police detain a demonstrator during a protest against mobilization in Moscow, on Sept. 21, 2022.Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP“I feel anger for those who made this decision,” said Ksenia, 28, a product manager in Moscow who declined to give her last name out of concern for her safety. “I feel fear for my relatives, friends, acquaintances and colleagues. I imagine myself in their shoes, forced to go off to a war that you didn’t choose, that you don’t support, that they grab you right off the streets to go and fight in.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-ukraine-escalation-fear-russia-draft-military-rcna48731

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