Mediazona estimated the number of mobilized at 527,000
The number of Russians mobilized for the war with Ukraine may exceed the one named by the authorities – 300 thousand people – and amount to about half a million. This is confirmed by “Mediazon”, referring to the data of its own research on the number of emergency weddings that took place in the autumn of last year.
This is a continuation of the first study “Mediazony”, published about four months ago. As the publication writes, new register summaries made it possible to clarify the estimate of the number of conscripts. Mediazona calls the number 527 thousand people.
After the beginning of the so-called partial mobilization on September 21 of last year, men who received a summons were allowed to get married in an accelerated manner – not after a month’s waiting, as usual, but immediately. “This was massively used by mobilized people who lived together for a long time, but did not formalize their relationship,” Mediazona writes, noting that spouses have the opportunity to provide information about their husbands, as well as count on compensation in the event of their death at the front.
At the end of October, the call for mobilization officially ended, but the registration of marriages continued for one day. Thus, in the Saratov region in December, that is, a month after the declared end of mobilization, 117 weddings with the participation of mobilized people were registered, and in Omsk – 89.
“Mediazona” also refers to Rosstat data, which show a sharp increase in the number of marriage registrations in 2022 compared to the previous year. In November, there were 45 thousand more than a year earlier, and in December – by 16 thousand. The publication, however, notes that not all cases are mobilized.
“Mediazona” calculated the possible number of those mobilized on the basis of data from 50 regions, in which almost 25 thousand men who received a summons got married. Based on the data on the number of unmarried men of conscription age, “Mediazona” comes to the conclusion that about 240 thousand people were called up in these regions, and about 525 thousand throughout Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders claimed that 300,000 people were drafted, and another 20,000 joined the army as volunteers.
