Putin orders Russian military to add 137,000 troops

Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday gave the order to increase the military personnel to a total of about 2 million, which includes about 1.15 million troops. The order, which takes effect Jan. 1, did not specify whether it would involve mass conscription, or what other means would be used to gather that number of troops. The Kremlin has said that only voluntary contract soldiers are involved in the “special military operation” in Ukraine. Russian media and other non-governmental organizations have said the government is trying to attract more volunteers and contract soldiers. The Russian government has drafted conscripts once already during the war in Ukraine.

How does military service work in Russia? All Russian men aged 18-27 are required to serve at least one year in the military, but many avoid the draft for medical reasons or get their service deferred by going to college. Those conscripts, though, are not usually allowed to be deployed out of the country. However, the U.S. Embassy in Georgia reports that Russia has admitted to using conscripts in the war in Ukraine. The Russian military rounds up draftees twice a year in April and October—Putin ordered the drafting of 134,500 conscripts during the latest spring draft earlier this year and 127,500 last fall.

Dig deeper: Read Evgeny Kosykh’s report in WORLD magazine about how Russian citizens are speaking out against the government.