Home › Security › What 22 September 2022 showed about Russia's mobilisation
What 22 September 2022 showed about Russia's mobilisation
Summary
A look back at the day Russia's partial mobilisation drove men to the borders, as a major prisoner exchange and fresh accusations of shelling unfolded.
What did Russia's partial mobilisation look like in its first full day? On 22 September 2022, the answer was visible at the country's borders, where large numbers of fighting-age men were leaving after the announcement. Long traffic jams formed at international crossings, and the price of tickets for international flights rose sharply.
The announcement and its legal groundwork
The departures followed an address to the nation on 21 September, in which Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation. Students and conscripts were exempted. The announcement came a day after Russian State Duma deputies approved changes to the Criminal Code, introducing the concepts of mobilisation, martial law, wartime and armed conflict, along with punishment for desertion.
Reaction from NATO and Lithuania
Also on 21 September, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the mobilisation dangerous and reckless, and condemned what he described as Putin's nuclear rhetoric. Lithuania, according to Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas, placed its rapid reaction force on high alert in response to the Russian move.
A prisoner exchange mediated by Turkey and Saudi Arabia
The same day brought a different kind of development. Ukraine and Russia released 55 Russian prisoners of war and 215 fighters from the Siege of Mariupol in an exchange mediated by Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Those freed included pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, Azov Regiment commander Denys Prokopenko, British volunteers Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan volunteer Saadun Brahim.
Fighting continued
On the ground, authorities of the Donetsk People's Republic accused Ukraine of shelling a market in Donetsk, saying six civilians were killed.
Reading the day
Taken together, the events of 22 September 2022 show several tracks running at once: a legal and political shift inside Russia, a visible public response at its borders, alarm among NATO and its neighbours, and a negotiated exchange that involved two mediating states even as accusations of attacks on civilians continued.
