Security officials are pushing Putin to declare martial law
Within Russian government circles, particularly among representatives of the security apparatus, there is increasingly active discussion of the possibility of imposing full-scale martial law following the September State Duma elections.
According to sources at the publication “Versтка” within federal and regional government bodies, security agencies are urging the Kremlin to stop “messing around” with the population and to finally put the country on a war footing, as the situation is becoming increasingly serious. The main triggers cited for this decision are the risk of a major setback on the front lines or a critical drop in the recruitment rate of contract soldiers, which had already fallen to a three-year low at the beginning of the year.
The imposition of martial law will give the authorities legal leverage to exercise strict control over society and the economy. This entails the imposition of a curfew, significant restrictions on citizens’ movement, the ability to forcibly conscript the population into labor at defense industry enterprises, the confiscation of private property for the army’s needs, as well as the cancellation of all elections and the imposition of total censorship.
At the same time, security forces are considering announcing a new wave of mobilization and introducing new restrictions, including tightening currency regulations and banning employees of strategic enterprises from traveling abroad. Furthermore, due to the growing federal budget deficit, which reached nearly 6 trillion rubles in the first half of the year, regional authorities do not rule out extreme measures—the forced conversion of a portion of civilian bank deposits into state war bonds to finance the war.
Source: “Verstka”
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