After Multiple Drone Strikes: Russia Raises Conscription Age for 'Better Defense' | DW News

Jul 31, 2023 | Russia's defense ministry says it has thwarted an attack on Moscow by three Ukrainian drones. The strike damaged an office building several kilometres from the Kremlin. Another drone strike on a police station was reported overnight in the Russian border region of Briansk. Ukraine's president says the attacks show the war is returning to Russian territory.

For more on that we talk to DW's Dmity Ponyavin.

Moscow has remained tight-lipped about the impact the war is having on its troops. But independent experts have looked into it.

Moscow said it planned to beef up its military in 2023 from around 1 million to 1.5 million. According to independent data, there are an estimated 1.3 million. That figure includes active personnel, reservists and paramilitary forces.

In September of last year, President Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 troops. Russia has said it doesn't need a mass mobilisation but last week's increase in the maximum age of conscription from 27 to 30 years of age.

Moscow has released no data on the number of troops it has deployed against Ukraine. Earlier this year, Ukrainian military intelligence claimed it stands at around 280,000. The UK's defense minister said this year that 97 percent of the Russian army is in Ukraine.

Moscow has publicly acknowledged the deaths of only 6,000 soldiers. Russian media outlets working with a data scientist from Germany’s Tübingen University put the number at close to 50,000. There's no data on the number of people who have deserted the Russian army, but human rights groups say there are more than one thousand court cases against alleged Russian deserters. Some rights groups claim the figure could be higher.

Recent moves by the government indicate Russia needs even more troops. Along with raising the recruit cut-off age to 30, Moscow has also made it harder to leave the country for people who have been drafted or who refuse to fight. The official reason: the country needs better defenses.

For more we talk to Marina Miron, a military analyst at King's College London.

Russia Raises Maximum Conscription Age

Jul 25, 2023 | Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum conscription age to 30 years from 27. The new legislation, which comes into effect on January 1, means men will be required to carry out a year of military service, or equivalent training during higher education, between the ages of 18 and 30 rather than 18 and 27 as is the case now.

The law also bans men from leaving Russia from the day they are summoned to a conscription office. Last year, Russia announced a plan to boost its professional and conscripted combat personnel by more than 30 percent to 1.5 million, a task made harder by its undisclosed casualties in Ukraine.

Russia Begins Next Wave of Army Conscription | DW News

Apr 1, 2023 | A fresh wave of army conscription gets underway in Russia, after president Vladimir Putin signed a decree calling up 147,000 citizens for statutory military service. It comes after 120,000 people were recruited in November. The Kremlin says this latest recruitment is routine and has nothing to do with Russia's war in Ukraine. In Russia, it is mandatory for men aged between 18 and 27 to carry out one year of military service.

Russians Are Terrified, and Have Nowhere to Turn

Conscripted Russian men attending a farewell ceremony in Bataysk, Russia, on Monday. | Arkady Budnitsky/EPA, via Shutterstock
OPINION : GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: “Hello, I have a pregnant wife and a mortgage. My wife is panicking, and I have no money to go abroad. How can I escape the draft?”

This is a message we received at Help Desk, a website I and other journalists set up in June to help people — with information, legal advice and psychological support — affected by the actions of the Russian government. The writer, after completing his mandatory military service seven years ago, was being drafted into the war in Ukraine. The Russian government was not interested in who will pay the mortgage or take care of his pregnant wife. It simply wanted more fodder for its war.

In the days since Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization,” clearing the way for hundreds of thousands of men to be conscripted into his failing war effort, we’ve fielded tens of thousands of messages like these. Some were plaintive; others were defiant. Some were simply defeated. Along with Russians desperately trying to board flights, crossing borders or attacking recruitment centers, they testified to the same desire: to avoid the draft.

The truth is, they probably can’t. While presented as a limited measure affecting only those who previously served in the army, in practice, the government has free rein to conscript as many people as it wants. The initial number of 300,000, for example, already seems an enormous undercount. In the face of a monstrous regime hellbent on war and widespread international isolation, Russians are caught in a disaster. And judging from the response so far, they are terrified. » | Ilia Krasilshchik * | Tuesday, September 27, 2022

* Mr. Krasilshchik runs Help Desk, a website that offers advice and support to people affected by the actions of the Russian government.

Putin Authorizes Draft of Nearly 135,000 into Russian Military

Mar 31, 2022 • CNN’s Christiane Amanpour reacts to news that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on spring conscription, fixing a target for 134,500 individuals to be drafted into the Russian armed forces.

Ukraine Reinstates Conscription as Crisis Deepens

BBC: Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has reinstated military conscription to deal with deteriorating security in the east of the country.

The move, announced in a decree, came as pro-Russia militants seized the regional prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk.

Ukraine blames Russia for organising the seizures of a number of offices in the east, a claim Moscow denies.

Some 40,000 Russian troops are stationed near the Ukrainian border.

Mr Turchynov admitted on Wednesday that his forces were "helpless" to quell the unrest in some parts of the east, saying the goal was now to prevent it from spreading.

He also said Ukraine was on "full combat alert", amid fears that Russian troops could invade.

On Thursday, his office said in a statement that conscription was being introduced "given the deteriorating situation in the east and the south... the rising force of armed pro-Russian units and the taking of public administration buildings... which threaten territorial integrity". » | Thursday, May 01, 2014

Austrians Vote to Keep Compulsory Military Service

BBC: Austrians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of retaining compulsory military service.

With all votes in the referendum counted, except postal ballots, 59.8% voted to keep the draft with 40.2% against, the interior ministry said.

The issue has divided politicians in the coalition government.

Supporters of change said a professional army would be more effective - critics said it would put Austria's cherished neutrality at risk.

Austrian men must serve six months in the army or nine months in civilian service when they reach 18.

Increasingly few European countries demand compulsory military service. France abandoned conscription in 1996, and Germany in 2011.

Calls for an end to conscription are growing in Austria's neighbour, Switzerland, which is also neutral. » | Sunday, January 20, 2013