Up to 500,000 people may have already been conscripted in Russia

UKRAINSKA PRAVDA – MONDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2022, 19:52

Following the announcement of Putin's "partial mobilisation" on 21 September, up to 500,000 people may have already been drafted into the military.

Source: Russian private news outlet Mediazone

Details: The news outlet tried to calculate the number of conscripts by the number of weddings, which increased sharply after the announcement of Putin’s conscription campaign. In Russia, a person who has received a conscription notice can get married without waiting a month, as they usually would.

Quote: "Our calculations show that at the beginning of October, at least 431,000 people aged 18 to 49 were drafted in 75 regions of Russia. This number may be even higher across the country - 492,000. The highest share of those conscripted is in the east of the country, the lowest in Moscow."

Details: The news outlet cites the example of Buryatia [Far East of Russia – ed.], where from 1 to 21 September, 83 weddings were registered, and after the announcement of Putin’s conscription campaign, 662. Thus, data collected from 75 regions of the Russian Federation indicates that 31,000 weddings of drafted people were held.

Journalists have calculated the percentage of conscription by comparing 31,000 drafted people who arranged a wedding to 2 million men who, according to the 2021 census, live in an unregistered union, that is, they are not officially married. This figure was 1.56%. Thus, "it appears that at least 431,000 people were conscripted in these regions by mid-October."

Quote: "For each of the 75 regions with available data about weddings, we calculated their mobilisation percentage, and correlated it with data on the number of men aged 18 to 49. Our calculations show that by mid-October, at least 431,000 people were mobilised in these regions.

To estimate the number of people drafted in regions from which no data was available, we took the average percentage of conscription at 1.56%. In this case, it turns out that 492,000 people were enlisted throughout Russia by mid-October."

Background: On 14 October, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation would be completed by the end of October: since 21 September, 222,000 Russians have allegedly been conscripted.

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