Russian President Vladimir Putin will call up 133,000 young men to serve as soldiers to drastically increase the number of Russian military service members by the end of the year, Metro reported.
Putin signed a decree two weeks ago to increase the number of soldiers in the Russian military by way of conscription with a target of having 1.5 million active service members signed up by the end of the year. The Russian military previously drafted about 150,000 men last spring and plans to enlist 133,000 more this fall and winter. The Moscow Times notes that Russia drafted 130,000 men in fall 2023.
A senior Russian lawmaker said last week that the draft system will still rely on paper summonses despite Russia previously planning on switching to a digital system by this time. The plans to launch the electronic draft system have been pushed to January, 2025, according to the The Moscow Times.
"We still need to fine-tune the database to ensure ... it will already be fully operational and can be transferred to the Defense Ministry for use," Andrei Kartapolov, who chairs the State Duma’s defense committee, told Interfax.
Kartapolov also said that the conscripts will not be sent to combat zones, a possible response to controversy over the use of newly-trained soldiers to defend against Ukrainian forces in Kursk.