Moscow to begin conscription in spring amid mobilization concerns
Russia will begin drafting tens of thousands of soldiers next week to replenish its army and expand its reserves.
The Kremlin says the conscripts are not being sent to fight in Ukraine, but the conscription occurs twice a year and comes amid persistent rumors of a new wave of mobilization to attack Ukraine.
“Spring conscription will take effect from April 1,” Maj. Gen. Vladimir Chymlyansky, deputy director of the Ministry of Defense's Mobilization Department, said at a press conference on Friday.
“Conscripts will not be sent to military deployment points in the new regions of Russia, in the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, the Kherson region and the Zaporizhia region, nor will they be sent to carry out tasks of special military operations. No,” he added. Using Russia's official language in attacks against Ukraine.
The Russian government unilaterally annexed four regions of Ukraine in 2022 and has been pressuring residents to acquire Russian citizenship.
Approximately 147,000 soldiers were conscripted during last year's spring muster. The military has not disclosed the target number for this year.
Russian men between the ages of 18 and 30 are eligible to serve after lawmakers raised the upper age limit from 27 last year.
Military service lasts 12 months.
Once conscripts join the military, they are under intense pressure to sign a voluntary military contract that allows them to be sent to fight in Ukraine.
– New concerns –
Russia recruited more than 400,000 people for the operation last year, and the Defense Ministry said it offered the fighters high salaries.
It has been accused of concentrating its recruitment efforts in Russia's poorest regions and ethnic republics.
Once conscripts complete their military service, they become part of Russia's reserves and can be sent to the front lines if they are mobilized in the future.
Rumors of mobilization have persisted since the Kremlin forcibly conscripted more than 300,000 people into the military in the fall of 2022.
Putin said in December that a new wave was “not needed”, pointing to the success of the recruitment drive.
But his re-election victory earlier this month came as the Defense Ministry announced it would create two new militaries by the end of the year and as the Kremlin singled out Ukraine for last week's deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall. Together, they are raising new concerns. .
“When you vote for President Putin, you vote for mobilization,” Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for the Russian leader and now an anti-Kremlin activist, said on Telegram last week.
The team of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Thursday called on people who have been issued military summonses not to ignore them and report to conscription offices.
President Putin said in December that 617,000 Russian military personnel were deployed to “conflict zones.”
Source: guardian.ng