Mash: 4,000 reservists plan to be called up to protect critical facilities
About 4,000 reservists will be called up to protect critical facilities from drone attacks, according to media reports. The formation of mobile groups has already begun in the Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions on the basis of BARS units. The mobile groups include a driver, a machine gunner and a senior crew member. Earlier, Vladimir Putin signed a law on the involvement of reservists in the protection of energy, transport and oil and gas infrastructure. At the same time, the General Staff reported that reservists would not be mobilized to participate in their military operations.
About 4 thousand reservists will be called up to defend critical facilities, according to the Telegram channel Mash . The formation of volunteer detachments began on the basis of units of the Combat Army Reserve (BARS).
"Divisions have now been established in the Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions. Reservists will undergo accelerated training and will serve in their regions as part of three-person mobile groups: a driver, a machine gunner and a senior crew member connected to locators," Mash reports.
It is planned that the former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Rosgvardiya will form the basis of the 4 thousand called up.
"The groups will be equipped with modern uniforms, and they will be given battle-tested PK, DP-27 and DPM machine guns to shoot down enemy drones flying at low altitude. The PO is from 100k rubles per month, depending on the region and rank," the Telegram channel writes (spelling and punctuation are preserved. - "Newspaper.Ru»).
Presidential Decree
Earlier on November 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing citizens who have signed a contract to remain in the Armed Forces reserve to participate in special training camps for the protection of critical facilities.
"Citizens staying in the mobilization human reserve of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation may be sent to special training camps to ensure the protection of critical facilities and other life support facilities on the basis of a decree of the President of the Russian Federation," the text of the decree says.
In October, Vice Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, Deputy head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff, explained at a briefing that reservists would be sent to training camps to protect life support facilities in their region, as well as to counter UAVs.
He stressed that reservists would not be involved in carrying out tasks in a military operation or serving outside the country. Tsimlyansky recalled that we are talking about citizens who have already served in the army or other law enforcement agencies and voluntarily signed a contract to remain in the reserve.
"We are not talking about any mobilization. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the bill applies only to citizens who voluntarily signed a contract with the reserve, and I ask you not to respond to various insinuations on this topic," TASS quoted Tsimlyansky as saying.
Infrastructure strikes
Since the beginning of 2025, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have increased the intensity of attacks using UAVs on infrastructure facilities in Russia. The main targets were oil refineries, chemical plants and some defense industrial sites.
On November 10, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Rodion Miroshnik told the Izvestia newspaper that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were carrying out up to 3,500 strikes per week against infrastructure facilities in the Russian Federation.
"Our activation occurred around July, and the number of strikes that we mark weekly reaches about 3.5 thousand. Over the past week, we have had more than 3,300 arrivals. We are talking exclusively about civilian facilities, and not about any military or dual-use facilities," said Miroshnik.
Miroshnik added that over the past month, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have increasingly begun attacking energy facilities, in particular substations in the Belgorod region and Lugansk. Since mid-October, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have also begun hitting gas stations in order to provoke a shortage of fuel and lubricants, Miroshnik added.
Reservists in the regions
The authorities of the Leningrad Region were among the first to announce the formation of the BARS-47 squad, designed to counter sabotage and drone attacks. By mid-November, according to the Kommersant newspaper, similar initiatives had been launched in at least 19 regions.
At the end of October, Tatarstan began recruiting reservists to guard oil facilities in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk. Already in November, the first squad of 21 people went to Kazan for training camps. In Bashkiria, reservists are planned to be included in "mobile firing groups" that will protect key fuel and energy and petrochemical facilities from UAVs, including Bashneft refineries, Ufaneftekhim and Gazprom sites.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, the first 15 volunteers were selected at the Kstovo military enlistment office, signed contracts and, after training, will begin protecting the region's most important infrastructure.
In addition, back in 2024, similar detachments were created in the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk to protect strategic facilities.
Alexander Dubravin
