Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

4 min read | 11:45 CAT

Protests have erupted in Russia’s Dagestan region as minorities say Putin’s mobilisation orders are targeting them.

American international political consultant and special correspondent Dr Jason Jay Smart spoke to Radio Islam International on the latest developments. 

A video of mothers protesting in Dagestan, unhappy that their sons will be thrown into the fodder in Putin’s war, has gone viral.

According to Dr Jason, Putin has lost many soldiers in this war. An estimated 55 000 soldiers so far, and he is now running out of soldiers.

He said Putin is trying to hide from the general population of Russia, namely the larger cities, how bad the war is going. He is going to the smaller ethnic minority areas, specifically the Muslim regions. He is taking them to the slaughter so that he doesn’t have to kill ethnic Russians, which would upset the general population too much.

Putin will attempt to suppress people who do not comply in this regard and has already taken action. However, he has a severe risk that this will create a movement in those areas to push for independence from Russia.  

Regarding the latest on the war in Ukraine, Dr Jason said for the past four weeks, Ukraine has had substantial gains. It’s retaken many territories and continues to take part very quickly.

“The Russian military has shocked the world by how unprepared it is. Ukraine, a much smaller country, beats them,” he says.

Russia was thought to be the second greatest military in the world.

There are many ways in which the Russian military is unprepared. Dr Jason told Radio Islam that two weeks ago, a group of soldiers surrendered to Ukraine in exchange for sandwiches.

There is no food or ammunition, and they have entirely run out of complicated technologies.

He added that internal factors in Russia ultimately might cause them to pull out of Ukraine.

He says, “At some point Putin is going to have a realisation that this is not helping his population as they oppose it. And ultimately, his people will have to make that clear to him.”

Listen below to the interview with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie and Dr Jason Jay Smart on Radio Islam’s podcast.