Russia’s State Duma passed the final reading of a bill to impose year-round conscription on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
The bill awaits Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s signature to become law and should take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, according to state media RIA Novosti.
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Under the legislation, recruitment offices can summon Russians for medical examinations, psychological assessments, and draft commission hearings at any time of the year, rather than during the traditional spring and autumn drafts.
However, deployment to military service would still occur twice a year – from April 1 to July 15 and from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, in line with current rules.
One key change sets a 30-day limit on electronic draft notices from enlistment offices. Currently, these notices never expire, so conscripts can be prevented to leave the country for months while waiting to be called up.
The 30-day rule was introduced by Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Duma’s Defense Committee, after the bill’s first reading.
Kremlin says the shift to a year-round conscription system is intended to “ease the administrative burden” on recruitment offices and streamline mobilization processes.
The move comes as the Kremlin launched its largest autumn conscription since 2016, calling up 135,000 Russians.
Though by Russian law, conscripts are not allowed to be sent to fight in Ukraine, there have been documented cases where conscripts were forced to sign permanent contracts enabling them to be sent to fight Ukrainian troops and were killed in action.
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The move to introduce year-round conscription, coupled with the major autumn conscription call and the full enforcement of its digital draft system, suggests the Kremlin seeks to secure manpower for a prolonged war in Ukraine.
On Oct. 28, Ukraine’s General Staff reported that 1,138,750 Russian troops have been put out of action – killed or wounded – since the full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022.
Moscow is also mobilizing local residents from occupied Ukrainian territories to offset the attrition of its manpower.
On March 20, Putin also signed a law requiring Ukrainian citizens living in Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions to either “regulate their legal status” or leave.
Ukrainians in those territories were given until Sept. 10 to obtain Russian passports or be classified as “foreigners.”
Those labeled foreigners would then be subject to residency rules, including a maximum 90-day stay, mandatory medical exams, and employment restrictions.
Meanwhile, anyone who takes a Russian passport automatically becomes eligible for conscription.
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