By Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in the country’s autumn draft, set to begin October 1 and run through the end of the year, according to a Kremlin decree published Monday.
The decree, released in the state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, calls for the drafting of citizens “aged 18 to 30 years, who are not in the reserve and are subject to conscription in accordance with the Federal Law.”
Vice-Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, head of Russia’s conscription office, confirmed that the terms for conscripts remain unchanged, with a 12-month service period in military units within Russia.
“I would like to note that conscripts will not be called up to participate in the special military operation in the new regions,” Tsimlyansky stated, referring to the areas of southeastern Ukraine that Russia annexed in late 2022.
This conscription order comes amid ongoing tensions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. While Russia refers to its actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation,” Kyiv and its Western allies characterize it as an unprovoked, imperialistic land grab.
The move follows Putin’s September directive to increase the Russian army by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen, citing growing threats on Russia’s western borders. This expansion would make Russia’s military the second largest in the world after China’s.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. President Joe Biden, and other NATO leaders have consistently identified Putin as the sole aggressor in the Ukraine conflict, accusing him of posing threats to neighboring countries as well.
