Volunteers will be given a non-combat mission – Newspaper Kommersant No. 180 (7381) of 09/29/2022

The Russian authorities are reorienting the work of political and public structures towards legal support for the mobilized and volunteer assistance to their families. The All-Russian People’s Front and United Russia have already announced the start of such work, and in the coming days, the organizers of the We Are Together volunteer action will also announce a shift in the focus of their activities to help families of military personnel. All projects of the Kremlin’s internal political bloc in the near future will be aimed at eliminating the flaws of partial mobilization and helping the families of participants in the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, Kommersant’s sources in the presidential administration say. Mobilization does create new risks in the sphere of public sentiment, which is why the authorities are concerned about fighting the negative, experts explain.

Volunteers of the “We are together” campaign, established at the initiative of the internal political bloc of the presidential administration (AP) during the coronavirus pandemic, will be redirected to help the families of citizens mobilized for the SVO, a source close to the leadership of the action told Kommersant. According to him, as during the pandemic, the initiative should bring together existing volunteer organizations, the Russian Red Cross, as well as the All-Russian People’s Front (ONF) and the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh). The new appointment of the action should be announced in the near future, the source adds: the website of We Together will be updated and a new hotline will be launched, and volunteer headquarters in the regions will receive new methodological recommendations.

“Yes this is true. There is a need to help the families of servicemen who defend the honor of our country. On the other hand, there are caring people who are ready to help, ”Ksenia Razuvaeva, head of Rosmolodezh, explained to Kommersant. According to her, volunteers will provide both household support for families upon request, as well as moral and psychological assistance. “Volunteers will be able to lend a shoulder to those who went to fight in support of their families: fulfill a child’s dream, congratulate a relative on his birthday, help with domestic issues,” Ms. Razuvaeva lists. In addition, on the “We are together” hotline, citizens who experience anxiety will be able to receive psychological support.

Earlier, another organization close to the Kremlin’s internal political bloc, the ONF, also announced the organization of legal assistance to conscripts. Kommersant has already reported that for these purposes the ONF has organized special help centers based on its executive committees. Almost the same work is being announced in United Russia (ER). On September 26, Anna Kuznetsova, deputy secretary of the party’s general council, said that the public reception offices of the United Russia would also be involved in accompanying and supporting the families of the mobilized. The Kommersant party explained that on the basis of such centers, those who applied would be able to count on both legal support and advice on social support measures.

In addition, United Russia is ready to provide volunteer and psychological assistance to military families in need. So, on Sakhalin within the framework of the project “Care. Protection. Respect, party volunteers are already working with the families of the mobilized, in the Omsk region, a single consulting center on partial mobilization has been organized on the basis of the EP public support headquarters, and in the Arkhangelsk region, party members have launched a chat bot that will answer the most popular questions on partial mobilization, they say in ER. As a separate area of ​​work in the party, monitoring of compliance with the norms of laws on social guarantees for military personnel is called: this concerns credit holidays, writing off loans, maintaining mobilized jobs, payments for injuries, etc.

Kommersant’s source in the Presidential Administration explains that now the activities of all its projects, in addition to the work related to holding referendums in the territories of the Northern Military District, are really focused on two areas: legal assistance to those mobilized and volunteer support for their families. And in the near future, the Presidential Administration will mainly deal with this, the source says.

Experts believe that partial mobilization at least creates new risks for the authorities in relations with society. According to Valery Fedorov, general director of VTsIOM, the tension is already clearly felt. In the previous six months, Russians have been living in a situation where the special operation is going on as if by itself – “professionals are working”, and the society is mainly watching and worrying about sanctions and restrictions, very unpleasant, but mostly surmountable, the sociologist explains: “With the mobilization, we we are entering a new stage, the spectator is being replaced by the actor. A large group of people appears, which is already mobilized or is waiting for an agenda. And the second, even larger group – members of the families of the mobilized, their acquaintances, colleagues at work. At the same time, women often show even more anxiety than men, emphasizes Mr. Fedorov. Against this background, the authorities, according to him, are interested in motivating and inspiring those who need to go to the front, and at the same time reassure and support those who remain behind. But in practice, things are at odds with the president’s instructions, which demonstrates not the highest readiness of the military registration and enlistment office system, the expert states. “The authorities see this and are trying with all their might to resolve the situation. There is still a lot to be done to make the system work as it should. The attitude of society towards mobilization as a whole largely depends on how quickly and accurately this will be done,” sums up Valery Fedorov.

“There is no data, so now it is impossible to talk about the degree of negativity. Not enough reason. It can be assumed that mobilization affects the growth of anxiety and fears, but for now we should not rush to conclusions about the mass nature of these phenomena,” says Victor Poturemsky, Director of Political Analysis at INSOMAR. The reaction of the authorities shows that they understand the seriousness and responsibility of the decision to mobilize: this can already be seen in the statements of the governors on support measures and on their control over the course of mobilization in the regions, the sociologist adds.

Andrey Vinokurov, Elena Rozhkova