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Russia Approves Year-Round Military Draft System
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The Russian lower house has approved a bill that would make military conscription a year-round process, replacing the traditional spring and autumn draft campaigns with a continuous recruitment system. The upper house approved the measure on October 29, and it is now awaiting the signature of Russian President Vladimir Putin. AP News reported on the development on October 28.
The change allows enlistment offices to summon men for medical examinations, psychological screening, and draft-board meetings at any time of the year, although conscripts will still be dispatched to military units during two periods: from April 1 to July 15 and from October 1 to December 31. The State Duma passed the bill in its third and final reading on October 28.
Lawmakers say the reform is intended to streamline and standardize the recruitment process. An explanatory note accompanying the bill says the measure will “distribute the workload evenly among enlistment offices and improve the quality of the process,” while limiting the validity of electronic summonses to 30 days.
Andrei Kartapolov, one of the bill’s authors and chairman of the Duma’s Defense Committee, argued that the new system would be less disruptive for conscripts.
“They won’t have to wait in fear for spring or summer … they can come throughout the year, undergo all the procedures, and get back to their normal activities,” he told RBC, according to Meduza, adding that the change would put an end to the “rush jobs every six months” at enlistment offices.
Both independent and pro-Kremlin media detailed the technical parameters of the reform: medical examinations, psychological screening, and draft-board sessions will take place from January 1 through December 31.
Conscripts will still be sent to military service only during the two established periods. Certain categories, including agricultural workers, teachers, and residents of parts of Russia’s Far North, will retain adjusted timelines.
Meduza also cited legal experts who said the 30-day limit on electronic summonses would “prevent excessive restrictions on freedom of movement” while preserving the state’s ability to call people up quickly.
All Russian men aged 18 to 30 are subject to one year of mandatory military service. Russian authorities insist that conscripts are not deployed to Ukraine, relying instead on volunteers and mobilized reservists. However, human rights organizations and media outlets have reported pressure on conscripts to sign contracts with the Russian Armed Forces.
The shift to continuous conscription follows earlier measures that raised the upper age limit for military service to 30 in 2023 and established an electronic registry for military summonses.
AP News reported that the State Duma vote was part of a broader wartime expansion of Russia’s military manpower. Russian state media and business outlets subsequently confirmed that the Federation Council approved the measure on October 29. If signed by Putin, most of the law’s provisions will take effect on January 1, 2026.
Earlier, it was reported that Russia had begun drafting men in occupied Mariupol who had accepted Russian passports, as part of the shift toward year-round conscription procedures.
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