Russian Defence Ministry says new conscripts will not be sent to fight in Ukraine

Russian citizens performing their compulsory one-year military service won’t be deployed to the occupied regions of Ukraine, the deputy chief of the mobilisation directorate of Russia’s Defence Ministry, Vladimir Tsimlyansky, said at a briefing on Friday.

All conscripts would complete their military service in units within Russia, Tsimlyansky said.

The autumn round of conscription would begin on 1 October “in all regions of the Russian Federation”, he confirmed, adding that the length of military service would remain 12 months.

Tsimlyansky emphasised that there were currently “no plans for additional mobilisation measures”, saying that the number of contract servicemen and volunteers who signed up to fight in the war in Ukraine was sufficient to “carry out the assigned tasks”.

Similar assurances were made to conscripts last year by Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, despite there being multiple documented cases of conscripts being sent to the frontlines.

Earlier on Friday, Putin tasked former Wagner Group commander Andrey Troshev with forming volunteer units for “performing different military tasks, primarily in the special military operation zone”.