Conscripts from fall draft won’t be sent to Ukraine, claims Russia’s General Staff. The ISW believes that’s exactly where they’ll go

Russians called up for conscription in the fall of 2022 won’t be sent to Ukraine or to the recently annexed regions, claimed Yevgeny Burdinsky, head of the Russian General Staff’s main organizational and mobilization department, according to a report by Interfax.

This year's fall conscription will begin a month later than usual, on November 1, due to the “partial mobilization.” Russia plans to conscript 120,000 young men within the framework of the draft.

“Only 24 municipalities in five subjects of the Russian Federation will not be called up. These are the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Trans-Baikal, Kamchatka and Khabarovsk territories, as well as the Chukotka Autonomous District, where conscription is carried out only in spring. This is influenced, first of all, by the physical and geographical conditions of these regions,” explained Burdinsky.

Meanwhile, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that conscripts from the fall draft will be sent to the war in Ukraine and suggest that they won’t be deployed to the frontline until March – after completing a four-month training course.

According to a report by investigative outlet iStories, which cited a source in Russia’s security services, one of the main reasons behind the “referendums” was for Russia to be able to use conscripts in the war and in the annexed territories.

Russian law states that onscripts cannot be sent abroad to take part in combat operations before they have completed a four-month course in a training unit. These restrictions, however, do not apply on Russian territory. If martial law is imposed, conscripts can also be sent to fight until their training is completed. Russia imposed martial law in Ukraine’s occupied territories on October 19.