Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of another 133,000 soldiers to aid his war in Ukraine.
The 18-to-30 year olds will be called up between tomorrow and December 31, but parents have raised fear that the untrained conscripts will be thrust straight into ‘hot’ border regions close to the war zone.
The figure is higher than the same draft last year when Putin recruited 130,000, and in spring when he drafted another 150,000.
The Russian regime is facing an increasing backlash over use of conscripts close to the war zone in defiance of an earlier Putin promise to parents that he would not put recruits in harm’s way.
How soon until we see something like the end of the movie Starship Troopers, where the latest batch of recruits appears to be about 13 years old?
Probably never. They’re trying to avoid conscripting the Russian population of any age, so they’re a long way from taking very young or very old people at large.
They have been trying to avoid conscripting from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. But they are running out of able bodied men outside those regions. There have been videos of men over 60 and men with health conditions that would preclude them from serving in a sane country. So I don’t think they are that far off. Because when they start conscripting from M and SP they are seriously hurting their economy.
Never? Well, or in 10 years. Military conscription has been held in Russia annually for 30 years. And every year there are not much fewer people.