Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and Security Council chairman, stated on Sunday that Moscow has recruited 280,000 individuals for the army since the beginning of the year.
Russia has not declared another mobilisation, which is widely regarded as unpopular, but has instead conducted a vigorous push to recruit additional men into the military as its Ukraine war enters its 19th month.
According to the TASS news agency, Medvedev stated “According to data from the Ministry of Defence, 280,000 people have joined the Russian army on contracts from January 1.”
During a visit to the Far Eastern Russian island of Sakhalin, he said:
“Part of them were in the reserves, part of them volunteers and other categories.”
Medvedev stated in early August that the army has recruited around 230,000 personnel since the beginning of the year.
These figures cannot be independently verified by AFP.
The Russian army has launched a massive marketing drive to recruit volunteers since the spring, including large ads on Russian streets and online.
It has also attempted to entice prospective recruits by promising better pay.
Last September, the Kremlin broke its vow not to declare a military draught, instead announcing a partial call-up to compensate for casualties on the Ukrainian front, resulting in the recruitment of 300,000 troops.
However, the news sparked a new wave of Russian emigration, with hundreds of thousands thought to have left overseas.
Medvedev, Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, has emerged as one of the city’s most hardline supporters of Putin’s Ukraine assault.
cc: Punch Ng
