Many Russians have been in shock since the “partial mobilization” proclaimed by President Vladimir Putin.

Many men of military age continue to try to leave the country or move from Moscow, where they are registered, to their home villages in hopes of avoiding conscription.

There is also panic in many Russian companies;

Especially for small and medium-sized companies, the loss of even a few employees can quickly become critical.

Catherine Wagner

Business correspondent for Russia and the CIS based in Moscow.

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The business portal "The Bell", citing one of the largest Moscow car dealers, reported that 10 percent of the colleagues had left the country and another 10 percent "got ill quickly";

other entrepreneurs in the capital also described something similar.

Meanwhile, larger companies are trying to protect as many of their employees as possible from being called up by influencing the government.

After Putin's speech on "partial mobilization", the Ministry of Defense initially stated that only employees of the defense industry were exempt.

Last Friday, the ministry expanded the list of protected professional groups, which now also includes systemically important companies in the information sector, including some media houses and companies that “ensure the stability of the national payment system and the infrastructure of the financial market” as well as employees of IT companies and telecommunications groups.

"Reservations" for Government Employees in "Critical Function"

However, that doesn't mean that all IT professionals and journalists get a "reservation," as the exceptions to mobilization in Russia are called.

According to a document from the Ministry of Digital Development, only state-registered IT or media companies and employees who have a university education in certain disciplines are eligible;

in addition, the employee must have a “critical function”.

According to the newspaper “Kommersant”, which cites data from a recruitment portal, only around 30 percent of Russian IT professionals have attended a university, compared to slightly less than half of the media professionals.

It is also unclear to what extent the exceptions that apply on paper are actually implemented in practice.

In the past few days, a number of cases have become known in which Russians who do not meet the criteria of "partial mobilization" specified by the Ministry of Defense have nevertheless received conscription orders.

For example, a 26-year-old employee of an IT company from Moscow, who meets all the conditions for a “reservation”, reported on Telegram that he had been told at the military replacement office that his name was not on a list of exceptions, which is why he was being drafted.

A similar situation happened to a 32-year-old IT specialist from the Russian state bank Sber in Moscow, who stated that he had not done military service and had no other experience in the army, but who went to the airport on the same day to prepare for combat use Moscow region should leave.