Why has Putin imposed partial martial law?

Although Moscow still officially calls Russia's war against Ukraine a "special operation", Putin has now imposed martial law in the four illegally annexed Ukrainian regions, allowing commanders there to massively restrict civic freedoms. At the same time the Russian military is calling on the civilian population in Kherson to flee. Commentators examine the implications.

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Visão (PT) /

Future of the war will be decided in Kherson

Russia is in a military impasse, Visão believes:

“The final battle for Kherson will take place without us having a precise idea of the extent of the Russian defeat. Nevertheless Putin's decree imposing martial law in the region and in the other occupied territories as well as the forced evacuation of their citizens are an unmistakable sign that the Ukrainian advance will trigger panic and an accelerated withdrawal of Russian troops. ... Putin is at an impasse: either he withdraws all his forces from the four regions he is occupying and concentrates everything on Crimea, or he must accept a resounding military defeat.”

SRF (CH) /

At the mercy of the occupiers

SRF's Russia correspondent Luzia Tschirky sees the move as paving the way for forced evacuations:

“The declaration is unlikely to have any immediate impact on the further course of the war. But it does put the people in the Russian-occupied territories even more at the mercy of the occupying power than before. ... With the declaration of martial law in four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers have another means at their disposal to evacuate the local population even against their will. For Vladimir Putin, the announcement seems to serve above all the purpose of increasing pressure on the local population and showing people at home that he is a determined president.”

NV (UA) /

A human shield

Russia wants to bring its soldiers to safety under the guise of evacuating the civilian population, NV writes:

“If you see on satellite images how a whole column of soldiers is being evacuated from the right to the left bank by ships and ferries, you will naturally strike them with Himars missiles. But if you see that half of the column consists of soldiers and the other half of civilians, you won't shoot at such a vessel. In short, the Russians want to use the Kherson evacuees as a human shield.”

Leonid Gozman (RU) /

Fulfilling an old dream

The Kremlin boss simply no longer wants to have to bother with civil rights, opposition politician Leonid Gozman posts on Facebook:

“He signed a decree on the nationwide introduction of direct dictatorship, the abolition of the constitution and all civil rights. This follows from the wording that stipulates that all authorities, organisations and citizens must obey the orders of so-called 'special coordinating councils'. Your opinion on this, your rights - if you haven't already forgotten them - and any laws previously in force are now irrelevant. He did not do this just because of the war - he has long since grown weary of pretending that laws apply in the country.”

The Spectator (GB) /

Also strengthening local power players

The fact that Putin has also declared a heightened state of alert in other parts of the country gives local administrators more leeway, notes The Spectator:

“It will be interesting to see who uses [their new powers] as Moscow wants, who essentially tries to ignore them, and who just uses it to embezzle all the more assiduously. Putin may not, after all, have considered the consequences of further strengthening local power players. Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin, for example, is clearly no fan of the war. His announcement on Monday that mobilisation in the city was over was widely seen as a snub to the Kremlin, and he has already said that at present he plans not to invoke any of the decree's provisions.”