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?
I can’t speak for Russians nor anyone if they should dodge the draft or not. While I had my struggles in life none of them were eventually as monumental as choosing to go die in a war. So there’s 0 weight to whatever I think about it.
All I can say is that this has got me thinking what I would do if I were to get drafted for this. My country is on the Western side of this so I would have to fight for NATO, something I don’t support. I would dodge the draft for that. I think it boils down to that for Russians as well. If you believe something has to be done, then join I guess. But I can’t blame people for not wanting to go to the hell of war and possibly die. That’s not my thing to judge about.
Also let us keep in mind there are Russian comrades on this site. We should not pressure them into doing anything nor should we call them immoral for refusing to do anything either. It’s about actual lives of people.