It's conscription season in Russia. All men aged 18 to 27 must serve 1 year in the military, generally the army. The draft year runs from March one year to March of the next year. Of course many potential conscripts try to get out of it through educational deferments and other schemes. But generally every year 100,000 young Russians leave the army and a new 100,000 join it.
So, question, are the conscripts in the Ukraine (strictly speaking illegal, they are not meant to be sent abroad) coming home?
Russian defence minitser Sergei Shoigu says yes.
But then to get the next batch in, he would have to say that because the reluctance of young Russians to join up is legendary. Meanwhile it's already April and last year's batch are still fighting in the Ukraine
Shoigu: "The boys are coming home, eventually"
The next couple of weeks will tell us how the Russians are intending to pursue this war. If they sent the next 100,000 in without releasing the previous cohort - they are in it for the long term.
No comments:
Post a Comment