President Putin signed a decree to mobilize 147,000 conscripts
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on March 30 to mobilize conscripts for military service in the spring, TASS news agency reported.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters |
“Military service of citizens of the Russian Federation aged from 18 to 27, who are not part of the reserve forces and are eligible for military service, from April 1 to July 15, 2023, in the amount of 147,000 people,” the decree states.
The decree also required the demobilization of soldiers, sailors, sergeants and officers whose military service had expired.
According to TASS, Russia is also discussing a bill to gradually increase the age of military service. Earlier, the Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee (the lower house of the Russian parliament), Mr. Andrey Kartapolov said that the draft decrees in the spring and autumn of this year will proceed according to the previous regulations. According to the bill being considered by the Russian lower house, the military service age will be from 19 to 30 years old in 2024, from 20 to 30 years old in 2024 and from 21 to 30 years old in 2026.
Russian citizens can also sign up for military service at the age of 18 if they wish, despite a bill to raise the conscription age.
A total of 120,000 Russians will be drafted into the military in the fall of 2022, with 134,500 enlisted last spring. On average, about 130,000 Russians have been drafted in each spring and fall draft in recent years, TASS said.
In September 2022, President Putin issued a partial mobilization order. After more than a month, Russia announced that it had mobilized 318,000 troops, exceeding the target of 18,000 people due to many volunteers applying to join the army./.