Use in Ukraine optional
Russia will draft new conscripts from October 1st
September 29, 2023, 2:10 p.m
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Twice a year more than 100,000 conscripts are drafted into basic military service in Russia. However, the Kremlin asserts that they should not be used in the fight against Ukraine. After military service, however, they could volunteer to do so.
From October 1st, Russia will again draft more than 100,000 conscripts. The general staff in Moscow said the soldiers would be regularly called up for twelve months of basic military service, but would not be deployed in the war zone in Ukraine. At the same time, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, who was responsible for the draft at the General Staff, emphasized that no further mobilization for the war in Ukraine was planned. There are enough volunteers who are doing military service and “fulfilling the relevant tasks” in Ukraine.
The general did not give any specific figures as to how many conscripts will be drafted this time as part of the usual fall draft. As a rule, the numbers are around 120,000 recruits. According to Zimljanski, 147,000 men were drafted in the spring.
In Russia there are two waves of conscription a year. According to the General Staff, the men should return home after their military service. But you can also commit to hostilities in Ukraine by contract. According to official Russian information, around 300,000 volunteers had signed up for military service in the past few months. During a partial mobilization last year, 300,000 reservists were also 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. In view of the discontent among the population over this measure ordered by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, the power apparatus has repeatedly asserted for months that no new mobilization is planned.
According to independent media estimates, Russia has already lost tens of thousands of soldiers in its war of aggression against Ukraine, which has lasted more than a year and a half. There is no official information about those who died. Ukraine puts the number of Russian losses at currently more than 277,000 soldiers. The leadership in Kiev also does not provide any information about the losses in their own ranks during the war.