Russia announces military recruitment to 160,000 young people
Russia will launch a spring military recruitment campaign that will involve 160,000 young people between 18 and 30. The decree was signed Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This recruitment campaign increases the numbers of the previous two years. The army guarantees that these new recruits will not be sent to Ukraine, a country that Russia has been attacking since February 2022.
The campaign is organized twice a year, in spring and fall, and this starts Tuesday. According to Putin Decree, 160,000 Russian citizens aged between 18 and 30 will be called to provide service between April 1 and July 15 this year.
According to Russian Tass agency, the spring campaign involved 150,000 people by 2024 and 147,000 in 2023.
« The next recruitment campaign has no connection with the special military operation in Ukraine, » said the Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement. The note uses the term “special operation” used to refer to the invasion of that country.
A high member of the General Staff, Vice Admiral Vladimir Tsimlianski, said the recruits will not be sent to the Ukrainian regions where the Russian army is fighting. Nor will they participate in “Special Operations Tasks,” he said.
In 2023, Russia adopted a law that increases the age limit for recruitment from 27 to 30 years.
The invasion of Ukraine led the Russian authorities to order the mobilization of more than 300,000 people in the fall of 2022. Many Russians abandoned the country for fear of being mobilized.
