Vladimir Putin's martial law decree in parts of Ukraine could lead to Ukrainians being forced to fight for him against their own country's army, according to an expert, as the Russian president seeks to give a boost to his faltering offensive.
Putin declared martial law on Wednesday in four Ukrainian regions of Ukraine—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia—that he recently declared as annexed, though global leaders have decried the move as illegitimate and illegal. Martial law, per Investopedia's definition, is "the substitution of a civil government by military authorities with unlimited powers to suspend the ordinary legal protections of civilian rights."
Though Putin did not immediately break down what steps could be taken under martial law, the legislation that was approved suggested that the order could result in more censorship, travel and public gathering restrictions and wider authority for law enforcement, the Associated Press reported. In the regions where martial law will take effect on Thursday, Ukrainian civilians may also be left "exposed to conscription in Russian military formations," William Reno, the chair of the political science department at Northwestern University, told Newsweek.
"If Ukrainians are forced to fight other Ukrainians, the intent may be to complicate Ukrainian government efforts to reincorporate these regions," Reno said. "Efforts to reassert Ukrainian control will be complicated by myriad ground-level recriminations and accusations surrounding who did and did not collaborate with Russian occupiers. History shows this can be a very ugly process."
Putin is currently carrying out a partial mobilization in Russia that he said would call up to 300,000 additional soldiers to fight for Ukraine. The Russian leader told reporters on Friday that the mobilization would be completed in about two weeks.
Overall, Reno believes that the martial law announcement has "significant implications" for civilians in parts of Ukraine under Russian control.
"Martial law appears to give authorities the legal justification they need to forcibly remove segments of the population to other locations," he said. "Forced removals were a feature of Soviet efforts to reconfigure ethnic balances in ways more favorable to state control. The same may be underway in Russian occupied areas of Ukraine."
Reno also said that Putin may be using martial law to send a signal that Russia's presence in those regions is "permanent and irreversible, even if the Russian military loses its grip in certain areas."
"The practical consequence of the announcement is that it will be all that much harder to move from fighting to some sort of negotiated settlement," he added.
A Newsweek fact check late last month determined that Russia does not have full control over any of the four regions it declared as annexed. Ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensives have been chipping away Russian-held territory on several fronts, including Kherson and Donetsk.
Yuri Zhukov, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, said Ukraine has already been under martial law since the war began in February due to a decree from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the video, Zelensky vowed his army was working to "defeat everyone," saying Putin was imposing martial law across Ukraine.
"Putin's executive order is an attempt to formalize this situation under Russia's legal framework, post-annexation," Zhukov told Newsweek. "On paper, martial law implies a similar set of measures in Ukraine and Russia: restrictions on people leaving and entering the country, restricted mobility inside the country, restrictions on speech, bans on certain political parties, moratorium on elections and referendums, expropriation of private property for national defense. So, in practical terms, people's lives won't radically change."
Zhukov said that Putin's martial law could provide a legal basis to forcibly relocate Ukrainians in those occupied areas, mobilize them to fight against other Ukrainians and take their property.
"But the Russians have already been doing all of these things, and much worse," he said.
Zhukov added that Putin's declaration is a signal to his audience that he is taking the situation seriously. While Russia's forces face continued setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine, Russia's political and military leaders are under pressure to "demonstrate results, or at least to appear proactive."
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, meanwhile, asserted that Putin's martial law "does not change anything for Ukraine" and that the fight to regain control of the occupied territories would continue.
Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.
Updated 10/19/22, 5:15 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Yuri Zhukov.
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Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more
