The Russian Parliament appears poised to pass legislation written by the Putin regime that would immediately make it a 10-year prison offense to voluntarily surrender in Ukraine. The legislation is also introducing what are being called “concepts” such as mobilization, martial law, and wartime into law.
The general assumption is that Putin is laying the groundwork for a general mobilization of all able-bodied males in a dramatic escalation of the war in Ukraine. The nature of the language is unknown, so it could include immediate mobilization as well.
More likely, it is Putin flying the “idea” of mobilization and escalation to claim Ukraine as a “rightful” part of Russia up the flagpole to see if the people salute. If there isn’t anything short of wholesale riots, Putin will push forward with the mobilization unless he can negotiate a peace with Ukraine, leaving the disputed regions, including Crimea, in Russian control.
I highly doubt Putin can accept such terms and stay in power, rising as he did through being a nationalist leader improving Russia’s humbled station on the world stage, only to see them now reduced to a regional power, and not a very dominant one at that.
Putin cannot leave Ukraine until he reverses the humiliation of the current campaign after the dramatic fall of the Kharkiv Oblast and the military booty the Russians left behind for the Ukrainians.
I don’t imagine he’s going to move right away in this current slate of new laws, but, barring a sudden dramatic reverse on the ground, I suspect he’s not more than a couple of weeks from making it official, of declaring war on Ukraine and fully mobilizing the Russian military to win a total war against the nation of Ukraine.
NEWSWATCH BLURB:
Vladimir Putin to impose martial law and mobilise all men of military age to fight – World News – www.mirror.co.uk
Excerpt:
Vladimir Putin is rushing through new laws which are likely to pave the way for mobilisation in Russia.
On Tuesday, Russia‘s parliament approved a bill to toughen punishments for crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and noncompliance if they are committed during military mobilisation or combat situations.
The bill, passed in its second and third readings on Tuesday by the Duma, comes as Russia seem poised to implement mobilisation, which would significantly escalate the conflict in Ukraine.
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