Keep in mind, I am not Russian, and that I do not consider Russia to be imperialist. I do have this one question however.
Considering that the Russian communist party originally disagreed with going beyond Donbas and invading the rest of Ukraine too (and also because in WW1, it was the communists who decided against continuing to fight in the war, but that is distant history), I have to ask, is this truly a fight for Russia’s survival, that absolutely necessitates drafting regular people, at this point in the conflict?
The draft, despite being partial and applicable to ex-soldiers only, still affects some people that have nothing to do with the army - this is happening because there are quotas that need to be fulfilled. Some privileged people also seem to have been given immunity from it, and some protesters were also drafted:
https://zona.media/chronicle/211#49874
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/22/russia-mobilisation-ukraine-war-army-drive
Assuming that all of these stories are true, what should regular Russians do about it? Should they do anything, should they oppose it? And, if these stories are not true, should they still do something? Even if it’s true that only ex-soldiers are being drafted, that still carries a similar weight with it - because they are still just regular people, who could have joined the army for a variety of reasons, voluntarily or otherwise.
I know next to nothing about Russia, the true state of the Ukraine conflict, and the present threat level that NATO poses. All I know is that multipolarity is preferable to unipolarity, but is this the only correct path forward towards that goal?
With my very limited knowledge, I mostly agree with the KPRF that they should stop with Donbas, but I think they should also include the territories they’ve occupied so far to prevent their population from being (further) “filtered” by the wholesome Nazis. Complete demilitarization of Ukraine will be extremely difficult now that their army is fully entrenched in NATO
EDIT: I don’t think that anyone should be forced to fight. I’d like this war to end as soon as possible, for the sake of both Russian and Ukrainian civilians (and non-fascist soldiers), but as @seanchai said, the only opinions that matter in this case are those of the potentially conscripted Russians
Maybe Russia does need an overwhelming force to do what they need to do and do it with safety in numbers.
I don’t think everyone should be forced on the basis of age without consideration. But I think Russia should try and do what’s necessary to get the numbers they think they need.