Plan announced for spring conscription 2024: there will be no sharp increase in recruitment

The army is larger, the share of conscripts is smaller

In anticipation of the announcement of the spring draft, there were many rumors that the plan for recruiting young people into military service could sharply increase compared to last spring. The reason is the plans announced by the president to increase the size of the Armed Forces.

So, at the end of last year, Putin signed a decree increasing the staffing level of the Armed Forces to 2 million 209 thousand 130 people. Of these, 1 million 320 thousand are military personnel. And this is not the first such decision.

Thus, almost two years ago, in August 2022, the authorized strength of the Armed Forces was determined at 2 million 39 thousand 758 people, including 1 million 150 thousand 628 military personnel. Before this, the size of the Armed Forces did not change for a long time and amounted to 1 million 13 thousand 628 military personnel.

It turns out that in recent years the army has grown by 300 thousand military personnel. Meanwhile, the number of conscripts called up for military service has grown much less. For example, in the spring of 2022, 134.5 thousand people were drafted, and in the spring conscription campaign of 2023 – 147 thousand. A year passed, and enrollment increased by only 3 thousand people.

By the way, our Armed Forces have grown significantly during this time. Thus, recently Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that the Russian army has already formed a new army corps, a motorized rifle division, the Dnieper river flotilla and a brigade of river boats. By the end of the year, it is planned to form two more combined arms armies, 14 divisions and 16 brigades. The formation of two military districts is underway – Leningrad and Moscow.

So how are plans to strengthen the army carried out? Obviously not due to the recruitment of conscripts. The answer to this question is given by the figures on the recruitment of contract soldiers for military service, announced not so long ago by the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev. In 2023, more than 490 thousand people signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense. Recruitment continues this year. According to some estimates, more than 100 thousand people have already signed new contracts since the beginning of the year.

So the puzzle is complete: the army is growing, while the share of conscripts in it is decreasing, and the share of contract soldiers is growing.

Age conflict

The presidential decree on spring conscription, in particular, notes: from April 1 to July 15, 2024, to carry out conscription for military service of Russian citizens aged 18 to 30 years who are not in the reserves and are subject to conscription.

This is an innovation for the spring 2024 campaign. Before this, citizens aged 18 to 27 were called up for service. But last year they decided to raise the draft age. The logic of this decision was explained by the head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff, Colonel General Yevgeny Burdinsky. In an interview that the general gave to the media on the eve of conscription, he recalled that from January 1, 2024, the upper limit of conscription age was raised to 30 years.

According to the general, among the citizens whom the military registration and enlistment offices annually deleted from the list of conscripts due to reaching the age of 27, about 60% were those who had not completed military service. At the same time, as a representative of the General Staff noted, “many of them wanted to undergo military service upon conscription.” Now they have such an opportunity.

True, there is a nuance: all conscripts who were registered with the military and reached the age of 27 before January 1, 2024, were removed from the military registration of conscripts by the military registration and enlistment offices and transferred to the reserve. That is, they will not be called up this spring. But citizens of the Russian Federation who reach 27 years of age in 2024 have the opportunity to fulfill their constitutional duty and obligation to protect the Fatherland.

The military department, by the way, expects a positive effect from the age innovation: the conscription of older citizens will have a beneficial effect on the moral climate of military units, since more people with professional education and life experience will join the troops.

Who will not be accepted as a soldier?

The spring conscription will begin in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation, with the exception of 54 separate regions of the Far North and certain localities equivalent to them, where young people are called up for military service only in the fall. This is due to the climatic characteristics of these territories. For teachers, conscription for military service will take place from May 1 to July 15.

Residents of rural areas directly involved in sowing and harvesting will not be conscripted for military service. Such specialists are called up for military service once a year – from October 15 to December 31.

It was announced that recruits will not be involved in participation in the SVO. In addition, they will not be sent to serve in military units stationed in new regions – DPR, LPR. Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

It is planned to begin sending young recruits to the troops from assembly points on April 15.

Tips for new recruits

The military advises conscripts to arrive at the military registration and enlistment office on time. This will allow, for example, a full medical examination. In addition, the draft commission will be able to find out earlier about the wishes of the conscript – in what branch of the military he would like to serve, in order to take this wish into account when drafting.

Some of the conscripts will be sent to serve in research, production and research companies. 10 research and production units have been created at defense enterprises in Anapa, Tula, Kaliningrad, Omsk, Chelyabinsk and Severodvinsk, the villages of Gorelovo (St. Petersburg), Peschanka in the Trans-Baikal Territory and Svobodny in the Sverdlovsk Region. In June, another research and production company will be formed in Kovrov, Vladimir region.

In addition, there are 17 scientific companies, eight of which are located in the ERA technopolis in Anapa. There is even one humanitarian scientific platoon. Recruitment will also be carried out for sports companies.

In general, all useful information for the conscript and his parents is collected on the Ministry of Defense website in the “Conscripts” section. There is even a step-by-step instruction “From conscript to soldier.”

The direct telephone line for conscription issues will begin operating on April 16 at 8 (495) 498-96-96, 8 (495) 498-96-97, 8 (495) 498-96-98.