The head of the government of Ichkeria in exile, Akhmed Zakayev, who was in Ukraine at the time, addressed his compatriots in Chechen in connection with the mobilization, calling on everyone who could potentially be affected by it to leave the country if possible, or even prefer prison to participating in the war against Ukraine as part of Russian army, because, in his opinion, “this is the only way you can protect yourself and your families.”

On September 30, representatives of the Dagestani diaspora in Turkey addressed their compatriots and all the peoples of the North Caucasus.

On September 26, the human rights organization “Team Against Torture” released a report “The Arithmetic of Torture: North Caucasus Federal District.”

On September 22, the former mufti of Ukraine Said Ismagilov, who resigned as a clergyman after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and volunteered to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, addressed the Muslims of Russia in connection with the “grave” announced by the Kremlin

Against the backdrop of these pacifist speeches, the appeal of the wife and adviser to the Mufti of Dagestan, Aina Gamzatova, to Putin with a request to delay the mobilization in Dagestan in order to “train real warriors” sounded dissonant.

Loud and massive protests against mobilization took place in Dagestan, and not only in the cities. On September 22, in the Babayurt district of Dagestan, protesters blocked the federal highway.

In the Caucasus, Chechen women were the first to come to the rally. Calls to go to the square appeared in messengers the day before. 

On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had assured several times before that there would be no mobilization in the country, issued a decree “On announcing partial mobilization in the Russian Federation