Medvedev announced the recruitment of about 280,000 contract soldiers into the army

About 280,000 people have been accepted for contract service in the Russian Armed Forces since January 2023, some of them are volunteers, informed during a meeting in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev, at the opening of the meeting, noted the importance of work on the additional staffing of the RF Armed Forces with contract servicemen.

“According to the Ministry of Defense, since January 1, about 280,000 people have been accepted into the ranks of the Armed Forces,” he said, adding that some of them were in the reserve, and some were volunteers.

On September 21, 2022, partial mobilization was announced in Russia. It lasted until October 31, 2022. During this time, 318,000 people were mobilized instead of the originally planned 300,000, since a large number of volunteers wanted to go to the war zone, Russian President Vladimir Putin explained. After that, he said that the issue of mobilization was “put to an end.” The Kremlin has repeatedly said that they are not discussing the second wave of mobilization.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced in January that all planned changes in the Russian army, including an increase in its strength to 1.5 million people, would be implemented by 2026. He called for special attention to be paid to the recruitment of contract soldiers, ensuring the timely supply of weapons, and increasing the number of training grounds in military districts and annexed territories, etc.