Moscow clears legal path to send reservists to front

The analysts reminded that Russia recently passed a law allowing active reservists to undergo special training to secure critical facilities inside the country.

Russian officials earlier insisted that reservists would be used only to protect critical infrastructure in Russia, but the new law contains no territorial restriction.

Analysts noted that the absence of territorial limits in the law could allow Moscow to send active reservists to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

On Nov. 5, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin also signed a law expanding monthly payments to contract soldiers to include all military personnel involved in the war against Ukraine.

The report noted that Russian officials have long discussed granting benefits to troops serving in border regions after Ukrainian offensive actions in Kursk Oblast in 2024.

The timing of Putin’s signing may indicate a link to recent changes in reservist mobilization.

ISW assessed that the Kremlin could use provisions in the law for troops serving near the front to create the legal and financial conditions needed to mobilize and pay active reservists for combat in Ukraine.

ISW believes Moscow is likely presenting recent legal changes for active reservists as part of an infrastructure-protection plan to conceal longer-term plans to deploy them in Ukraine.

A source at one of Russia’s largest oil and gas companies told Russian outlet Verstka that the company’s security staff “do not have high hopes” that reservists will protect critical infrastructure, since only air-defense systems can do that.

On Oct. 24, Bloomberg reported that a successful series of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries prompted the Putin regime to start a plan to call up reserve soldiers in an effort to protect those facilities.