Analysts from the American Institute for the Study of War do not rule out that Russia, whose losses at the front exceeded the level of recruitment in January 2026, is considering unpopular measures to replenish the armed forces, in particular, the forced conscription of reservists.
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At the same time, the Russian publication Verstka writes that in large Russian cities, the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that issue international passports are overloaded. This situation is observed in Moscow and several other cities with a population of more than one million.
A journalist who tried to apply for a biometric passport through the Russian portal “State Services” was not offered a single “free” or “averagely busy” department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow, of which there are hundreds in the Russian capital. It is alleged that a similar situation is also observed in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Krasnodar, and in Novosibirsk, for every six overcrowded departments, there was one with an “average” load. In Samara, there were two.
Russians complain about the inability to apply for or collect documents due to huge queues. At the same time, the publication recalls that in late 2025 – early 2026, for the first time after partial mobilization, there was a noticeable increase in interest in the topic of emigration among Russian citizens again – this was evidenced by Google Trends query statistics.
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Recall that in February of this year, the Russian State Duma supported in the first reading a bill that strengthens preventive measures against “evasion of the duty to defend the homeland.” The document, in particular, gives the authorities the opportunity to punish citizens for criticizing the conscription of reservists.
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