Autumn conscription to army starts in Russia

MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday the start of autumn conscription.

According to a ministry statement, 120,000 people have to report to the military service under the conscription this year.

"The upcoming conscription campaign has nothing to do with the conduct of a special military operation in Ukraine. The conscription activities will be carried out as planned, within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation," it read.

The conscripts will go to training centers and to the troops after that, the ministry said, without specifying whether the new recruits will be sent to the units taking part in active combat activities in Ukraine.

The military conscription in Russia takes place biannually – in spring and autumn. The conscripts have to serve in the armed forces from six to 12 months.

From Sept. 21 to Oct. 28, Russia also carried out a partial military mobilization, under which 300,000 recruits were enlisted to the army.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said the partial military mobilization was over and on Monday, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported that all mobilization activities were completed – the military commissariats stopped issuing and sending notifications and returned to routine work.