Putin orders 135,000 men to join the military in largest fall draft in nine years
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Monday for 135,000 men to be conscripted into the army by the end of the year. AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of 135,000 men into the army, marking the Kremlin’s largest autumn draft in nearly a decade.
According to a decree published by state media outlet TASS, the draft will run from October 1 through December 31, 2025, targeting Russian citizens aged 18 to 30 who are not in the reserve.
Vladimir Tsimlyansky, head of the Russian General Staff’s mobilization department, claimed the new conscripts will not be sent to the front lines in Ukraine, though Moscow has previously been accused of breaking similar promises. The decree also directs federal agencies and state-run organizations to coordinate in processing recruits.
Russia holds two conscription cycles each year. Last fall’s brought in 133,000 soldiers, while this spring’s cycle recruited about 160,000. Since the war against Ukraine began in 2022, the Kremlin has averaged around 127,000 conscripts every autumn.
Despite Moscow’s assurances, Ukrainian officials say conscripts have repeatedly been captured along the front lines. The draft comes as part of Putin’s plan to expand Russia’s military to 1.5 million active troops by 2026, up from roughly 1 million.
To reach that goal, Russian lawmakers passed legislation last week that will scrap the traditional bi-annual draft in favor of a year-round system.
The costs of the war remain staggering. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimates Russia has suffered nearly 1 million casualties since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Roughly a quarter of those losses are believed to be combat deaths — five times greater than the combined toll of all Soviet and Russian conflicts since World War II.
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