Moscow launches military campaign to recruit 135,000 young people
Military service in Russia, which lasts one year, is mandatory. The recruitment campaign is organized twice a year, once in spring and once in fall.
Parade of Russian soldiers in Moscow.
(AFP) Russia plans to call up 135,000 men aged between 18 and 30 to its military this year, according to a decree signed Monday by President Vladimir Putin for the fall.
The military assured that these new recruits will not be sent to Ukraine, a country in which Russia launched a full-scale offensive in February 2022. It says they will instead perform auxiliary duties within Russian territory.
Military service in Russia, which lasts one year, is mandatory. The conscription campaign is organized twice a year, once in spring and once in fall. In the spring 2025 campaign, 160,000 men were conscripted, and in last year's fall campaign saw 133,000 soldiers added.
These conscripts differ from the more than 300,000 reserves mobilized to fight in Ukraine and who had previously completed their military service. However, in the context of the war against Ukraine, several cases of conscripts ending up on the battlefield have been reported.
In August 2024, Kiev claimed to have captured conscripts during a surprise offensive in Russia's Kursk region bordering Ukraine.
In 2023, Russia passed a law raising the maximum age of conscription from 27 to 30, which has been in effect since Jan. 1, 2024.
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