Who Is Fighting Putin’s War?

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at Russia’s frantic mobilization efforts, China’s economic secrecy, and Uganda’s Ebola lockdown. 

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been packing Russia’s front lines with demoralized men with little to no military training and scant gear as he scrambles to sustain his military campaign amid mounting battlefield casualties.

But mobilizing 300,000 new forces has proven to be difficult, especially after hundreds of thousands of people have already fled the country to escape conscription. Those who remain have been snatched from offices, cafes, and even homeless shelters as authorities struggle to fill the ranks, the Washington Post reported.

Internally, Putin’s unpopular conscription campaign has fueled growing frustration and opposition. With mobilization, “Putin has now brought the war into the homes of many more Russian families,” Andrea Kendall-Taylor, director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, told FP’s Ravi Agrawal in an interview. 

“Up until this point, he’s tried to portray the war and things inside Russia as normal,” she added. “He’s tried to protect the politically important Russians, but mobilization has blown that apart.”

Since soldiers are insufficiently prepared for war and poorly equipped—with even Putin admitting that some of the new forces are only trained for five to 10 days—being sent off to fight in the war is often seen as a death sentence.

There are “dozens of anecdotal reports … of untrained, unequipped, and utterly unprepared men being rushed to the frontlines, where some have already surrendered to Ukrainian forces and others have been killed,” the Institute for the Study of War said in a report. 

According to the British defense ministry, new soldiers are likely even forced to pay out of pocket for military gear, namely body armor—and at an inflated rate. Online, the modern 6B45 vest is now selling for 40,000 rubles (or roughly $640), the ministry said. That is more than three times higher than its going rate in April of 12,000 rubles (or around $190).

Recently deployed reservists’ “average level of personal equipment is almost certainly lower than the already poor provision of previously deployed troops,” the ministry added.

As Russian officials employ discriminatory recruitment practices, ethnic minorities have been disproportionately targeted in the conscription campaign, FP’s Amy Mackinnon reported in September. In Buryatia, Moscow’s fierce mobilization efforts left some men racing to hide in nearby forests in an effort to evade authorities.

China’s economic secrecy. China has postponed the publication of key economic statistics and indicators, such as its GDP, officials announced on Monday. The data was originally set to be released on Tuesday; authorities did not offer reasons for the change or provide a new release date. 

The abnormal move has fueled suspicions that the economic figures did not meet Beijing’s expectations. In Foreign Policy, ChinaFile contributors have examined what a stagnating economy could mean for China’s future ambitions.

Uganda locks down. As Uganda grapples with an Ebola outbreak, President Yoweri Museveni said he would lock down two districts for three weeks in an effort to stamp out the virus. There is currently no vaccine available for the spreading strain, called the Sudan strain, although several potential vaccines are being developed. 

“Given the gravity of the problem and to prevent further spread and protect lives and livelihoods, the government is taking extra measures that require action from all of us,” Museveni said. 

U.N. migrant investigation. The United Nations has called for an investigation after Greek officials discovered 92 migrants—who were almost entirely naked and some clearly injured—near the country’s border with Turkey. Athens said the migrants had faced “humiliating treatment” in Turkey; Ankara, in turn, accused Greece of “harsh treatment of refugees.”

“We are asking for a full investigation because the circumstances are not clear,” said Stella Nanou, the U.N. refugee agency’s Athens spokesperson. “We are always against degrading and cruel treatment, and what we have seen is shocking.”

Paris’s sweeping protests. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against inflation and surging costs of living in Paris on Sunday. The sweeping protest, which was coordinated by a group of French President Emmanuel Macron’s left-wing rivals, coincided with a mass oil refinery strike over wages.

• Biden Is Now All-In on Taking Out China by Jon Bateman

• Who Are Xi’s Enemies? by Deng Yuwen

• The Thaw on Russia’s Periphery Has Already Started by Daniel B. Baer

The Kakapo—a flightless and endangered green parrot known for outweighing its peers—has been excluded from the running in a contest to determine New Zealand’s bird of the year. The popular parrot had previously won the competition twice, the Guardian reported, prompting one fan to say it had been “robbed.” 

Organizers said the Kakapo was only taking a break from the vote to give other species a fighting chance. The decision was made to send “love to some of our feathered friends that may be overshadowed by their flashier, chonkier, or louder cousins,” said Ellen Rykers, a spokesperson for Forest and Bird, the organizer.