Military
Putin orders 150,000 conscripts to be drafted
Russian recruits at a firing range during a military training session. photo
© Ivan Vysochinsky/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Russia drafts conscripts into military service every spring and autumn. Now Kremlin leader Putin has published a new decree on this matter.
According to the decree, 150,000 soldiers between the ages of 18 and 30 will be drafted by July 15. In Russia there are such regular waves of conscription twice a year – in spring and autumn.
The Ministry of Defense in Moscow also published the document, which also provides for the dismissal of those who have completed basic military service. The trained soldiers can also undertake military service in Ukraine. Observers assume that there is great pressure within the force to sign such a contract.
Russia has been waging its war of aggression against Ukraine for more than two years and, given the high losses, is increasingly dependent on new personnel there. According to independent media estimates, Moscow has already lost tens of thousands of soldiers since the invasion began on February 24, 2022. There is no official information about those who died in Russia.
Is another mobilization planned?
There has also been speculation for days about whether further mobilization of reservists for the war in Ukraine could be planned. To achieve his war goals, Putin will probably need significantly more personnel and could now initiate mobilization after his re-election. Military experts believe it is possible that Russia wants to conquer the Kharkiv and Odessa regions in addition to the previously partially occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
In the past, the power apparatus in Moscow had declared that there were enough volunteers who would do military service and “fulfill the relevant tasks” in Ukraine. According to official information, hundreds of thousands signed such a contract last year.
During a partial mobilization in autumn 2022, 300,000 reservists were called up. The mobilization led to massive protests in society last autumn, and hundreds of thousands of reservists fled abroad for fear of being drafted.