The Russian Defense Ministry said that the autumn draft in the country was completed on December 31, according to its results, 120 thousand people were sent to the troops.
At the same time, the department claims that the drafted citizens will not be involved in the participation of a “special operation” in Ukraine (as the Defense Ministry calls the war).
“Citizens called up for military service are not involved in the special military operation in Ukraine, and conscripted servicemen who have served the established terms of military service are promptly dismissed and sent to their places of residence.”
In 2022, the autumn conscription began a month later, on November 1, due to the announcement of partial mobilization in September.
The department noted that during the autumn draft campaign, the work of "direct telephone lines" was organized, which received about two thousand calls. Most conscripts and relatives were interested in questions about how to get a deferment from military service on conscription, the report says.
Earlier, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov recorded a video message to Russians liable for military service in Russian. The minister claims that in a week a second wave of mobilization will be announced in Russia. Against this background, Reznikov called on the Russians to doubt the actions of the authorities and under no circumstances go to the war unleashed by Vladimir Putin.
The situation with the mobilization in Russia, announced on September 21, remains unclear. On December 20, Putin created a working group on mobilization preparations, but two months earlier he had declared that even without decrees, mobilization was "definitely completed." Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also reported on the completion in October. Lawyers in a conversation with The Insider recalled that without a decree to complete the mobilization, it can be continued at any time. In early December, several Moscow City Duma deputies demanded that Putin issue a corresponding decree, but the Moscow City Duma refused to register their appeal.