Approximately half of those recruited into the army of Russia from Far Eastern Russia’s Khabarovsk region had been sent home because of wrongful mobilization. The following information has been shared by the governor of the region.
The first draft of Russia since World War II has sparked protests and criticism, even among Kremlin loyalists, for the chaotic mobilization process. The majority of regional leaders have reported taking measures to improve their regions’ draft efforts after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week acknowledged “mistakes” in carrying out his “partial” mobilization orders.
In the Khabarovsk region, around 8,500 kilometres east of the capital city of Moscow, Governor Mikhail Degtyaryov said he had dismissed the local chief enlistment officer for excesses at the draft board.
He added that, “Out of several thousand of our compatriots who had received a summons and arrived at army enlistment offices in the past ten days, around half have returned home for failing to meet the selection criteria.”
The governor did not exactly clarified the number of Khabarovsk region residents who have been mobilized, but the 50% figure is believed to be the highest share of wrongful mobilization cases to be declared in a single region.
His colleague in the neighbouring republic of Sakha reported on Monday that 300 of those wrongfully enlisted had returned home.
The announcement by Degtyaryov follows reports of recruiters in the Khabarovsk region signing up men diagnosed with schizophrenia and single fathers with disabled children.
Yury Laiko, the Khabarovsk region’s chief enlistment officer, is at least the second senior recruitment officer to be fired over mistakes with the “partial” mobilization.
His counterpart in the Magadan region, another Russian subject in the Far East and one of the nation’s least-populated regions, was dismissed last week.