Russia has admitted to wrongfully drafting several thousand men into the army for the war against Ukraine since the autumn.
"More than 9,000 citizens who were illegally mobilized were brought back home - including those who should not have been called up under any circumstances for health reasons," Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said on Tuesday at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Critical observers assume, however, that many more people were recruited illegally during the mobilization ordered by Putin in September - and may never have returned. In the first weeks in particular, chaotic conditions were reported in many district military recruitment offices. These had called up a total of 300,000 men for the front nationwide.
In retrospect, Prosecutor General Krasnow also described the military structures in his country as having "a lot of serious problems."
On Tuesday, a video message addressed to Putin by wives and mothers of mobilized Russians circulated on social media. The women from the Far Eastern region of Primorye complain that their husbands lack equipment, medicine and hygiene products.
