MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. The partial mobilization that was announced in Russia earlier on Wednesday comes in response to NATO’s threatening Moscow with its military capabilities, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Answering questions from reporters on Wednesday, the Kremlin spokesman echoed statements made last week that the authorities were not considering a full mobilization yet. "[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin said in his address how conditions have changed during the course of the special military operation. It was President Putin who said we are actually confronted with the military potential of NATO and a number of other countries who are unfriendly to us right now," he said.
In his televised address on Wednesday, the Russian leader said the West’s final goal was to ultimately destroy Russia. According to Putin, the West "has crossed every line" in its aggressive anti-Russian policy. "We have been hearing threats against our country and our people. Some irresponsible politicians in the West go beyond talks about their plans to supply Ukraine with long-range attack weapons — weapons that would enable attacks on Crimea and other regions of Russia," he said. Such "terrorist attacks, including those using Western-supplied weapons, are already being committed in near-border localities in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, while NATO has been conducting real-time reconnaissance all across southern Russia, using the most up-to-date systems, jets, vessels, satellites and strategic drones," Putin added. "In Washington, London, and Brussels, they are directly prodding Kiev to shift military actions to our territory, with statements openly being made that Russia should be defeated on the battlefield by all means necessary and later deprived completely of its economic, political, cultural, or any other kind of sovereignty whatsoever," the Russian leader concluded.
Putin also announced a partial military call-up in the country.
The presidential spokesman remained tight-lipped about how power would be distributed between Russian regions and the Defense Ministry amid a partial mobilization and forwarded reporters to Clause 8 of Putin’s decree which specifies exactly when and how many reservists will be called up.
Peskov also said "probes are underway" following attacks on Russia, specifically in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.