Russian leader Vladimir Putin is set to conscript 160,000 Russians for the upcoming summer in a twice-per-year conscription drive.
The fresh troops are set to replace at least part of the troops finishing their mandatory service in Russia, which is 12 months for men aged between 18 and 30 – increased from 27 with a decree in July 2023.
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The latest decree, issued on Monday, March 31, said 160,000 men aged 18 to 30 who are not reservists would be called up for service during this year’s spring mobilization drive between April 1 and July 15.
“To carry out, from April 1 to July 15, 2025, the conscription of Russian citizens aged 18 to 30 years who are not in the reserve and are subject to… conscription for military service, in the amount of 160,000 people,” the decree says, according to Interfax Russia.
Those who finished their mandatory service would also be released, the decree adds.
“To implement, in accordance with the Federal Law of March 28, 1998, 53-FZ ‘On Military Duty and Military Service,’ the dismissal from military service of soldiers, sailors, sergeants and petty officers whose term of military service by conscription has expired,” it says.
Interfax reported that the autumn mobilization drive in 2024 filled the Russian ranks with 133,000 fresh recruits.
Those called into service would be prohibited from leaving the country and face a hefty fine of 30,000 rubles ($353) for evading the draft, according to a BBC report on the subject in August 2023.
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In 2023, Russia also changed the law to consider a summons served if it is registered in its electric portal, omitting the need to physically hand the summons to the draftees, according to the Washington Post.
As Kyiv Post reported during Putin’s 2024 mobilization drive, which called up close to 150,000 conscripts, Russian conscripts cannot be deployed outside Russia for two years by law, though some have reportedly been sent to the front line in Ukraine by mistake.
Conscripts might also be pressured or forced to sign contracts with the Russian army and sent to the front line, Andrii Kharuk, a professor at Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy, told Kyiv Post at the time.
Russian news outlets reported in the summer of 2024, after Ukraine’s Kursk incursion, that fresh recruits were rushed to the Kursk front in an attempt to contain the offensive.
According to Ukraine, the number of Russian military personnel casualties since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine in 2022 stood at 915,230 as of March 31, 2025.
