Despite recent public pronouncements by Russian President Vladimir Putin that rumors of a fresh troop mobilization were ‘complete nonsense’ and that ‘there is no scenario today that would require mobilization’ recent events suggest the process may have already begun. Critics point out that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that reports of a new mobilization were ‘fake stories’ – he had made similar denials in May 2022, only four months before the last mass mobilization began.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to an article in Deutsche Welle’s Russian service (DW), large numbers, which some estimates put as tens of thousands, are increasingly being summoned to military enlistment offices to verify, clarify and update their military registration records. Having done this they find that their military ID cards have been modified to include a ‘mobilization order’ that requires them to report to a specific collection point in the event of mobilization, Such orders were issued prior to the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the previous mass mobilization in the autumn of the same year, but the current level of summonses is unprecedented. DW quotes the Russian internet search engine Yandex Wordstat which has seen a 800% upsurge in the number of searches for ‘mobilization order’. A Russian lawyer, Artem Klyga, is quoted in the article noting that a summons to an enlistment office to clarify data does not necessarily mean the individual will be mobilized but it will be used to rapidly bring them in once the order is given. He adds that officials have been instructed to prepare the system for any decision Putin makes.