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Russian police detained more than 200 young people near the Kitay-Gorod metro station in central Moscow on November 7, handing some of them military notices. The raids have raised questions about whether the Kremlin is using its crackdown on youth to recruit soldiers, but experts and activists interviewed by the Kyiv Independent disagree. Oleksii Melnyk of the Ukrainian Razumkov Center said the raids are mainly a repressive measure to tighten control over young people, though military registration fits that system. Moscow is not a priority area for recruitment, he said. Melnyk linked the raids to the Kremlin's promotion of traditional values and its hostility toward Western influence. Russian human rights lawyer Artem Klyga, who lives in exile, said he did not associate the raid with mobilization and knew of no detainees later sent to fight. Ivan Chuvilyaev of the anti-war group Idite Lesom said his group received several requests for help and that the notices did not appear in Russia's electronic military registry. The notices required visits to recruitment offices, where people may be pressed to sign contracts, which Chuvilyaev calls part of Russia's "hybrid mobilization". The Kyiv Independent reported that Russia is struggling to recruit enough men for its war against Ukraine.