Russian human rights groups report a surge in inquiries amidst rumors of a new mobilisation
Russians have increasingly been seeking advice on how to avoid a possible new wave of military mobilisation in recent weeks. Get Lost, a project that helps Russians avoid mobilisation and assists deserters, reported that it receives 150–200 such messages every day. Online searches about mobilisation and exemptions from it have reached their highest levels since 2022, writes the independent outlet Verstka.
The increase in inquiries has also been reported by the Movement of Conscientious Objectors and the Conscripts' School, which provide legal assistance on military service issues. According to the organisations, people are seeking information about deferments from service, obtaining “unfit for service” status, leaving Russia, mobilisation notices, and lists of reservists maintained by employers for mobilisation exemption purposes.
The Conscripts' School says there is a sense of “mild panic” among reservists. According to the Movement of Conscientious Objectors, in the spring, people were asking whether a mobilisation might really begin in the fall, whereas now they are more often asking what to do if it is officially announced. “Panic or no panic, there’s definitely a lot of anxiety,” claims the founder of Get Lost, Grigory Sverdlin.
In July, the phrase “Will there be mobilisation?” was searched 204,000 times on the Russian search engine Yandex. The query “mobilisation exemption” received 32,000 searches, while “exemption from mobilisation” received 28,000. Previous peaks for these two search terms ranged between 15,000 and 20,000 searches.
The popularity of the search term “exemption from mobilisation” in Google Trends has, for the first time, reached the maximum score of 100. At the end of May, Russian searched Yandex a record-high of 18,000 times for information about mobilisation orders.
There has been no official confirmation that preparations are underway for a new wave of mobilisation. Previously, Verstka and Important Stories, citing their own sources, reported that Russian authorities were discussing such a scenario. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky similarly said that Vladimir Putin was prepared to carry out another mobilisation, citing intelligence information. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, dismissed these reports as “a fabricated provocation”.
