The Russians are at war on two fronts apparently, one in Ukraine and another in their own country against their own citizens. In multiple acts of defiance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, six Russian military recruitment offices in different locations were attacked with Molotov cocktails, revealing a staunch resistance against their own government’s decisions.
The latest incident happened just a few days ago, on May 4, when two men in western Siberia had attacked a conscription office with Molotov cocktails somewhere in the city of Nizhnevartovsk at a time past midnight. One man had thrown seven Molotov cocktails through the window of the office, with his accomplice standing by behind him.
In the barrage fire of bombs, the office was set ablaze. Nobody seems to be inside the building. However, no official reports coming out of Russia can confirm this. Afterward, locals reported the fire to the police at 3:20 am, to which the suspects were later caught. The two men were later charged with “intentional destruction or damage to property” and “hooliganism” however, it does not seem that the two men were caught by authorities.
This attack comes with the annual enlistment season for Russian military service, as the Kremlin requires all men from the ages of 18 to 27 to serve in the military for two years. They are exempted if they have health conditions.
However, this is not an isolated case for the Russians. Five other military enlistment centers have been set on fire since the war started on February 24th. The first recorded case was near Moscow, specifically in the town of Lukhovitsky, some four days after the war started, where a 21-year-old had set fire to their local enlistment office. According to the defiant Russian, he wanted to destroy military archives to prevent Russian mobilization into Ukraine.
Other attacks were recorded in the Voronezh, Sverdlovsk, and Ivanovo regions. These attacks, like the most recent one, involved the usage of Molotov cocktails again to disrupt recruitment in their areas. These Russian men were reportedly protesters of the war in Ukraine and attacked because they did not want anybody to be recruited into the military.
The next attack happened in the Mordovia region, where a group of unknown people threw Molotov cocktails at a military recruitment office in Zubova Polyana last April 14th or 18th. The group apparently targeted rooms where data of conscripts were stored. They then set fire to the computers that held the data. Before a watchman could report the incident, two floors had already been burning. It was later revealed that four Molotov cocktails were used to set fire to the office.
In a more direct attack on the authorities, a woman named Anastasia Levashova threw a Molotov cocktail at Russian policemen during a rally in Moscow, specifically at Pushkin Square on February 24th, the day of the invasion. She was later caught and found guilty of using violence not dangerous to life or health against a representative of the authorities.
On a more surprising note, she was later revealed to be the daughter of one of the Russian opposition leaders, Mikhail Kirtser. She was sentenced to two years in prison. She wasn’t the only one detained during that protest. As many as 600 people were arrested that day for to demonstrating against the Russian government, which ahs been outlawed as they classified these things as “fake news” against the state.
Last March, SOFREP reported that some 5,000 protesters across 69 cities in Russia had been arrested as anti-war sentiments grew. Videos of Russian police surfaced on the internet where they were seen bashing and beating protesters with batons. This also came with the Russian government’s crackdown on independent journalism in the country, where you could be jailed for 15 years if journalists called the invasion of Ukraine an “invasion.”
Russia has also recently increased its military recruitment of “volunteers” as a large majority of Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine. However, it was revealed that Russian men were afraid of getting enlisted into the military as they feared getting sent into Ukraine, where many of their comrades had died. While Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had promised that no new conscripts would be sent to hotspots, Russian men were still afraid as they heard the news of their comrades being lied to.
As a result, the Kremlin is having a difficult time recruiting new soldiers into the military as potential recruits know they might not be coming home. Many are afraid of being “cannon fodder,” so many hide from this forced military service.
The Russian conscription system is actually pretty corrupt. Many Russians who have the money and power can get themselves out of conscription. They can simply bribe their way out of it, so the ranks of the Russian army filled with conscripts tend to from poor families that are lacking in education and job skills.
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