Russian plans to recruit 400,000 contract soldiers to contain counter-offensive of Armed Forces of Ukraine

In an attempt to repel the expected counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Russia is reportedly planning to recruit 400,000 contract soldiers.

Russian regional governments have been given quotas to recruit a total of 400,000 contract soldiers. In some regions of the Russian Federation, they have already started sending summonses to the draft boards, where citizens are invited to sign a contract for service, according to Bloomberg, citing ‘sources familiar with the planning’.

Bloomberg sources familiar with these plans claimed that the involvement of contractors would avoid a second wave of mobilisation. The recruited contractors, the agency noted, would be involved in deterring the expected offensive of the armed forces of Ukraine, which the Kremlin believes is planned in the near future.

Earlier on March 24, Dmitry Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, in an interview with Russian media, said that the General Staff of the Russian Federation was preparing decisions on the impending offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“They are preparing for offensive operations, this is also known to everyone. Our General Staff is calculating this and is preparing its decisions”, explained Medvedev, as reported by RIA Novosti.

In mid-March, reports began to appear in the media and social networks about the dispatch of subpoenas to the military registration and enlistment offices. According to Pavel Chikov, the head of the human rights organisation Agora, as of March 15, reports of subpoenas came from 43 regions.

Kommersant explained that the subpoenas are sent for the purpose of ‘reconciling data’ as part of work on the digital database of military records in the military registration and enlistment offices of some regions.

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