Vladimir Putin could escalate the war to a confrontation with NATO countries, to justify a new mobilization in Russia. The warning was made by the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas.
According to the official, such a scenario could be used by the Kremlin to explain to Russians why the country needs more soldiers, as the army’s losses on the front are increasing, reports TV8.
“If you mobilize only for this war, you will send the signal that, in fact, you are not winning this war. Therefore, there comes a time when an escalation is necessary to justify the mobilization. And this is a very dangerous moment,” Kallas stated, in an interview given to The Wall Street Journal.
The head of European diplomacy clarified that no one can know exactly what plans the Kremlin leader has, but the hypothesis would be that the Kremlin leader is considering war with NATO.
According to estimates from Western intelligence services, Russian troops in Ukraine lose approximately 35,000 soldiers each month. The number would be higher than that of the military personnel that the Kremlin manages to recruit through contracts and volunteering.
Under these circumstances, writes The Wall Street Journal, the continuation of the war at the same pace, without a new mobilization, could become increasingly difficult for Russia. Such a decision would repeat the scenario from the fall of 2022, when approximately 300,000 people were called up to the army, and could have major consequences both inside and outside the country.
Signals that Russian authorities might be preparing the population for a new mobilization were noticed as early as February by experts from the Institute for the Study of War, who wrote that the number of contractual soldiers no longer covers the losses on the front and drew attention to laws adopted at the end of last year, which allow the Ministry of Defense to mobilize a reserve of approximately 2 million people.