From early morning in Moscow as well as St. Petersburgpolice checks are carried out at metro stops, men, many of whom are detained and handed subpoenas to the military enlistment offices, as part of the call for military service.

Residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg report on social networks and the media about police “raids”, posting photos and videos of police officers stopping and searching young people.

Local news channels SOTA, Baza, Avtozak LIVE also report on these police “raids”.

In St. Petersburg, police and plainclothes officers stopped men outside apartment buildings in the city’s Kalininsky district and elsewhere.

“There is a raid in our area, police and people in civilian clothes. They detain passers-by, cars, enter houses, ”the owner of an apartment in the Ladosky Park residential complex told the St. Petersburg newspaper Fontanka. The administration of the Kalininsky district told the newspaper that summonses are issued en masse and left “for fact-checking”, police officers “assist” recruiters and civil servants. The press service of the local police department assured that the law enforcement officers did not issue summons, but only maintained public order.

In Moscow, police and military registration and enlistment offices guard potential recruits near the Galaktika shopping center and at least 13 metro stations.

The Federation Council reacted

“Comrade leaders, do you understand that you are doing lawlessness and creating a hostile attitude in society towards everything that happens? There is more harm from such actions … I thought that the stories about the “raids” were fake, but I was told by people whom I know personally and whom I completely trust,” Kirill Kabanov, a member of the Human Rights Council, said in his Telegram -channel (despite the President of Russia). Kabanov is going to ask the President of the Human Rights Council Valery Fadeev to apply to the prosecutor’s office. These actions also displeased Senator Andrey Klisa (Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council on Constitutional Legislation and State Building), who, addressing Kabanov, stated that “each such sign must be checked and, if confirmed, the actions of the officials who authorized such” raids” should be subject to judicial scrutiny.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of “partial military service” on September 21, promising to conscript 300,000 people from “certain categories of citizens.” In fact, it was shown that conscription is massive and carried out with numerous violations. Many people try to avoid it. According to journalists, in the first two weeks alone, more than 200,000 people from 53 regions were sent to the front. The Russian authorities acknowledged that five servicemen had already died in Ukraine, and about 20 people died at troop collection points before reaching the Ukrainian front.

The Moscow military registration and enlistment office told the state news agency RIA Novosti that “summons are not issued either by the city military registration and enlistment offices or by police officers.” At the same time, he pointed out that the police can carry out “search activities”, including the search for draft evaders.

The We Can Explain Telegram channel also reported on a night raid in the dormitories of the construction company MIPSTROY 1. It is reported that about 200 people were arrested and taken to military enlistment offices, of which 80 did not return home.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that questions about the “raids” should be directed to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

“There is no reason to be afraid to walk around Moscow. It is necessary to raise the issue with the Prosecutor General’s Office (…) The President instructed the prosecutors to accompany all recruitment activities. And the prosecutor’s office is responsible for observing the rule of law,” he said.

^{Sources: APE-MOP, Novaya Gazeta.Europe, Svoboda.org, DW (Russian service)}