Because he thought his initial campaign would be quick and easy so why even call it a war. Since he's conviced his entire population it's just a special military operation he cant just suddenly turn around and say full scale war time for general mobilization.
We're now 1.5 months in. Mobilization is not a switch they can turn on and off. It would take weeks to just get some initial troops. Months to mobilize the bulk.
He's already reportedly been widening draft parameters and trying to mobilize tens of thousands of former military people for his renewed offensive in Donbass.
They have annual conscription in Russia. Putin didn't change the numbers. They didn't even institute stop-loss and let conscripts who finished their time leave. So no, they are not drafting more people. What they are doing is trying hard to get those who are in to stay (sign contracts) and for ex-military to re-enlist. This is no different than what the US was doing in the 2000s.
One of the steps to actually ordering general mobilization in Russia is reframing the conflict as one against the West and saying the threat against Russia is existential, which is something I believe Putin is working towards. Ukraine's top intelligence officer today warned that Putin might be planning terrorist attacks in Russia, which would again be a way to shift closer to a general mobilization scenario.
He's trying to prepare the population to accept more. But at the same time, he's going out of his way to avoid a draft. The very fact that he didn't institute stop-loss says a lot.
And all of that is assuming that Russian logistics is even capable of mobilizing them. There should be doubt on that given the performance of Russian logistics in Ukraine. They've been sending understrength units into Ukraine right now and those units have inadequate kit and are undersupplied (food, ammunition). A lot more troops to feed and supply isn't going to help Russia here.
Moreover, sending conscripts in rusting tanks from the 70s and 80s really isn't going to help Russia all that much tactically, but will massively increase the casualty count, creating yet more political instability at home.
Also, mobilization isn't free. Russia already suffers from demographic issues. Sending hundreds of thousands of young men to get maimed and die in Ukraine, isn't really helpful for their economy or society. Not to mention that declaring such will send every middle class Russian with any skill fleeing as they try to avoid the draft of their husbands or sons. And if they can't take flee, they'll be in the streets.
Putin gets all of the above. Yet, we still see Westerners cowering at the idea of Russian mobilization. If you want to talk mobilization I suggest you look at what the Ukrainian mobilization looks like. They now have more personnel mobilized in Ukraine than Russia has there and bring on thousands more everyday. Their only limit is kitting them out. If Russia declares a general mobilization you can bet the US and EU will massively mobilize the defence sector to deliver Ukrainians whatever they need to kit tens of thousands of troops per day. That would be an absolute nightmare for Putin.
Putin does not need any troops in Serbia to cause a stir, just like he doesn't need any troops in Hungary or France if Le Pen wins. Serbia is the closest it's been to civil war the 90's and that's widely acknowledged by pretty much everyone. The governing faction wants to join to join the EU, but opposition members with locals support are the major threat to undermining peace in the region. Again no projecting is required.
Similarly they also don't need to project much power in Moldova. Russia can sweep through Moldova in a day, they're military is nothing like Ukraine's and they are a super tiny country. They have zero capacity to retake Transniestria.
Like I said, I'm sure Putin will try to stir up trouble everywhere he can to try and distract from this war or undermine Western unity. But at the end of the day, there's only so much he can do, and he really can't bank on Western complacency these days.
I've seen this on Twitter, apparently reported by a swedish paper, but I have yet to see it be picked up by any major outlets yet so I remain a touch skeptical (not that it's unlikely)
The Finnish and Swedish Prime Ministers just had a joint press conference where they announced their intention to join NATO, with Finland going first.
The Finnish and Swedish prime ministers gave a joint press conference in Stockholm as the war in Ukraine has prompted both countries to reevaluate traditional positions of neutrality that lasted throughout the Cold War.
www.dw.com