Analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say the Kremlin tried to downplay the prisoner swap with Ukraine by holding the exchange on the same day the "partial mobilization" was announced.
ISW writes that the exchange is "deeply unpopular among Russian nationalists and millibloggers".
Analysts note that the Kremlin openly does not comply with the promised conditions of partial mobilization. Kremlin quotas are likely to force local authorities to mobilize men regardless of their military status and are likely to encourage disproportionately high mobilization of ethnically non-Russian and immigrant communities.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, the announcement of partial mobilization and flagrant disregard for even the parameters of mobilization dictated by the government may alienate interested sections of the Russian public, which previously tolerated Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which affected their personal interests less.