Putin claims 150,000 Russian conscripts already sent to Ukraine, additional recruitment "makes no sense"
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that there was no point in additional draft in Russia, as allegedly 150,000 Russian conscripts have been sent to Ukraine.
Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet RIA Novosti, quoting Putin
Quote from Putin: "As for possible conscription, and rumours about it. Look, out of 300,000 draftees, 150,000 are in the area of the special military operation [as Russia calls the war against Ukraine – ed.]. Thus, half of them have been deployed. Out of these 150,000, 75,000 are directly in combat units. Others are on the second or third lines, operating as territorial defence troops, or undergoing additional training."
Details: According to Putin, the remaining 150,000 draftees are still at training grounds and defence training centres, where they "undergo additional training."
Quote from Putin: "Taking into account these circumstances, talk about any additional conscription measures does not make any sense and there is no need [for these measures – ed.] for the state and the Ministry of Defence at this time."
Background:
- On 4 November, Putin announced that the number of servicemen conscripted recently in the Russian Federation had reached 318,000 people, despite the previously announced limit of 300,000.
- On 28 October, Sergei Shoigu, the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, reported that 82,000 conscripts had been sent to Ukraine.
- On 21 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "partial mobilisation" in Russia. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that 300,000 servicemen would be conscripted.
- The media found out that Russia plans to draft 1.2 million people into its army as part of the conscription. Kremlin officials denied this information.
- In late October, Putin declared that "partial mobilisation" was over. However, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia continues enlistment covertly, despite official statements about its completion.
- On 1 November, Putin's press secretary Dmitriy Peskov announced that 300,000 people had already been conscripted.
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