Russian opposition politicians are appealing to President Vladimir Putin to issue a decree to end the “partial mobilisation”

Russian opposition politicians are appealing to President Vladimir Putin to issue a decree to end the “partial mobilisation” that has seen hundreds of thousands of men called up to fight in Ukraine, Qazet.az reports according to TheGuardian.

Russia’s defence ministry announced in October the end to the military mobilisation order that Putin declared the previous month, but legal activists and media noted that only the Russian leader had the authority to end the mobilisation.

The Kremlin said Putin would not sign any order, in effect allowing for future waves of mobilisation.

The absence of a formal decree to cancel the mobilisation meant those already drafted could not leave the armed forces, according to Emilia Slabunova, an opposition councillor in Karelia in northern Russia.

Military lawyers told Reuters that there were at least two cases where commanders refused to discharge servicemen. Slabunova said appeals against these refusals led no where, with courts siding with the commanders.

She said:

We, as councillors, represent our constituents and these appeals from us are the result of numerous appeals from citizens.