Russian security forces are detaining civilians off the streets and pressuring them to sign military contracts, as reports emerge that the Kremlin is preparing for a new wave of mobilisation for its ongoing all-out war in Ukraine.
In mid-August, the Russian human rights project Idite lesom received 14 appeals from people who said security forces had detained them and forced or pressured them into signing military contracts, either at police stations or directly at military enlistment offices.
The project, which helps Russians avoid taking part in the war, said the peak began on 10 August. "There were only isolated round-ups in July, now we are at a peak," Ivan Chuvilyaev, a representative of the project, told Euronews.
Reported cases span from Novorossiysk to Birobidzhan. Men have been detained on the street under the pretext of document checks or for drinking in public, at their workplaces, and on their way home.
Cases in the Penza region have been recorded since mid-June. In the same period, Idite lesom — whose name is a deliberate play on a Russian expression meaning "get lost" —reported seven cases of conscript soldiers being forced or pressured to sign contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry.
