On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree for the spring military draft. According to the document, 160,000 people will be conscripted into the Russian military between April 1 and July 15, Adyrna national portal reports, citing DW.
On the same day, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that electronic draft notices would be sent to citizens via the Gosuslugi portal, while conscripts from Moscow would receive their notices through mos.ru. Officials clarified that paper draft notices still “retain legal force.”
Under the new law, Russian citizens aged 18 to 30 are subject to conscription.
This year’s draft will be the largest since 2011 when the Ministry of Defense decided to partially reduce conscription. In the 2024 spring campaign, 150,000 people were drafted, while in 2023, the number was 147,000, and in 2022, it was 134,500, according to TASS.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also stated that the upcoming draft “has no connection” to the large-scale war in Ukraine and that conscripted soldiers will not be sent to the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
In February, the Russian State Duma introduced bills aimed at tightening military conscription rules. The first bill proposes extending the draft period to one year, meaning that conscription orders issued in the spring would remain valid when the autumn draft begins. The second bill increases fines for failing to report a change of residence to between 10,000 and 20,000 rubles.
