The latest indication that Moscow is getting ready to bolster a military fighting under Kiev’s ferocious counterattack is the vote by Russian lawmakers on Tuesday to implement an electronic conscription system that would make it practically impossible for soldiers to dodge conscription.
The much-awaited spring offensive in Ukraine is preceded by the new system.
Russian men must currently pick up paper drafts in person at a recognized residence or place of employment. Last year, some 300,000 men were enlisted to fight in Ukraine. How many more guys Russia plans to mobilize is unknown.
Men are prohibited by law from leaving the country between the day they receive the subpoena and the date they report to a military recruitment agency. Failure to appear within 20 days can result in a number of limitations, such as the inability to use motor vehicles, make purchases or sales of real estate, or apply for loans from financial institutions.
A draft notification will be declared sent and valid under the new regulations, which could go into effect as soon as this week and apply to both conscripts and reservists, as soon as it appears in one’s account on Russia’s state-run e-services portal.President Vladimir Putin originally declared a partial mobilization while his forces were engaged in combat in Ukraine last September, which led to a large-scale evacuation of Russian males and a flurry of demonstrations across the nation.
No official estimates of the number of men who may have fled were made, but many of those who stayed in the country and refused to fight did so.
