Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of 135,000 men for routine military service, marking the country’s largest autumn draft in nearly a decade.
The decree, signed Monday, mandates the call-up of citizens aged 18 to 30 between October 1 and December 31, 2025. Conscripts are expected to serve one year at bases inside Russia, though reports have previously surfaced of some being deployed to Ukraine despite official denials.
Russia runs two annual conscription campaigns — spring and autumn — which the Kremlin insists are separate from wartime mobilisation. Still, men who complete training are considered more likely to be called up in the future.
Combined with the 160,000 recruits conscripted this spring, this year’s tally is set to be the highest since 2016. Traditionally, the spring draft is larger, coinciding with school and university graduations.
The move comes as Putin continues to expand Russia’s military amid the war in Ukraine. Since 2022, conscription numbers have grown by about five percent annually, while defence spending has surged to levels not seen since the Soviet Union.
In September 2024, Putin ordered the armed forces expanded to 1.5 million active personnel, making Russia’s military one of the world’s largest.
