Russia’s former president and current Security Council president Dimitry Medvedev said on Sunday that Moscow has recruited about 280,000 people into the military since the beginning of the year.
“According to Defense Ministry data, 280,000 people joined the Russian army as of January 1,” Medvedev told TASS news agency.
“Some of them were in the reserve, some of them were volunteers and other categories,” he added during a visit to Russia’s Far East island of Sakhalin.
Russia has not announced a new mobilization, seen as an unpopular move, but has led an active campaign to attract more men to the army as the offensive in Ukraine continues.
In early August, Medvedev said the army had recruited about 230,000 people since the beginning of the year. The AFP could not independently verify these figures.
Since the spring, the Russian army has been leading a massive publicity campaign to recruit volunteers, with massive advertisements online and on the Russian streets.
He also tried to attract future soldiers by promising higher salaries.
Last September, the Kremlin reneged on promises not to announce military conscription by announcing a partial conscription to compensate for losses on the Ukrainian front that led to the conscription of 300,000 men. But it triggered a new wave of emigration from Russia, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing abroad.
Source: DN
