31 March 2023 , 14:52
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Vladimir Putin has ordered more troops to be deployed amid his failing war strategy in Ukraine.
The Russian president had called up another 147,000 young men to go into statutory military service.
In the new decree, his military machine has given two-and-a-half months to recruit the 18-to-27-year-olds between 1 April and 15 July.
Putin’s move is part of a two-stage annual recruitment of novices for a year-long military service.
The tyrant has demanded 22.5 per cent more conscripts than last autumn.
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Earlier official promises that young untrained conscripts would not be sent to the war have been flouted, and it is likely many will end up involved in the fighting.
However, the parliament’s defence committee Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, denied the 147,000 would be sent to fight in Ukraine.
Putin’s move is part of a two-stage annual recruitment of novices for a year-long military service (kremlin.ru)He also insisted no conscripts would be taken from invaded regions of Ukraine which Russia has annexed.
He said: “There will be no draft at all in the new Russian constituent territories - the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions."
“Conscripts drafted in other Russian constituent territories will not be sent to serve in those regions.”
But in reality, this is seen by many as a smokescreen.
Mark Tarasov (first from left), 24, a conscript who went missing after the Moskva cruiser death (Social media/e2w)Those who sign up have reportedly been bullied into doing so.
Once they have signed, they can be sent to the frontline.
Thousands are feared to have died among those recruited as conscripts last year.
It is also known that dozens of young conscripts - who had not signed as contract sailors - perished among the crew of the sunken Moskva cruiser, the flagship of Putin’s Black Sea Fleet, which was downed by a Ukrainian missile.
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Among those who died in April 2022 on the Moskva were conscript sailors Andrey Tsyvov, 19, Leonid Savin, Mark Tarasov, 24, Nikita Efremenko, 19, Nikita Syromyasov, 20, Sergey Grudinin, 21, and Yegor Shkrebets, 20.
Leonid Savin poses with his relatives before he went missing after the Moskva cruiser sank (Social media/e2w)This is despite a law stating that such conscripts serving their basic military service should not be sent to the frontline.
Last autumn Putin recruited 120,000 conscripts, and in spring 2022 he ordered 134,500 into uniform.
A new law not yet in effect will raise the starting age of conscription from 18 to 19 and 20 and later 21.
The upper age will also rise to 30.
Yet it will not stop volunteer conscripts from joining at 18.
First images showing the damaged cruiser Moskva soon after it was 'struck by Ukrainian missiles' (Social media/e2w)The new system will be rolled out gradually starting next year and appeared aimed to snare more university graduates.
A feature of conscription in Russia is that few sons of politicians and top officials are called up.
Separately a discreet mobilisation is underway by which reservists are called to war.
Some estimates say Putin has mobilised almost half a million reservists - many in their 30s and 40s - since last September.
Most are from regions far from major cities Moscow and St Petersburg.
Few are from elite families.