Russia called up 500 thousand people for military service

The number of Russian military personnel in 2022 increased by 500 thousand people. This is reported by the Bloomberg agency. The official statistics of Rosstat gives a figure of 400 thousand soldiers. However, Bloomberg analysts note, these data are incomplete. They do not take into account about 100 thousand people recruited in structures that do not formally belong to the army – for example, PMC “Wagner”.

At the same time, the Russian authorities announced in October 2022 that 300,000 people were drafted into the army as part of the mobilization.

The increase in the number of Russian armed forces exacerbates the labor shortage in Russia. This is indirectly evidenced by the fact that Rosstat recorded a record low unemployment rate in the country in 2022. In February of this year, the number of vacant positions on the HeadHunter platform exceeded the number of posted resumes. People apply for vacancies. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, unemployment in January 2023 was 3.6%.

As Bloomberg predicts, taking into account the losses caused by the war in Ukraine and the departure of hundreds of thousands of Russians from the country, the working-age population in Russia may decrease by 6.5% over the next decade.

At the same time, the Russian authorities intend to continue increasing the number of troops. Since April, the Ministry of Defense has started a new recruitment of servicemen for contract service. The declared goal is to recruit another 400 thousand people. This figure is given by the regional mass media. They also report that governors of Russian regions receive orders on how many contractors their region must provide. For example, according to the plans of the Ministry of Defense, in the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, 10,000 people should enter professional service, and in the Perm region – 9,000.

• In January, the Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu, announced the task of increasing the number of Russian troops to one and a half million people within three years. It is assumed that almost half of them will be contractors. At the same time, the day before the State Duma introduced a draft law on raising the maximum age of service in the conscript army from 27 to 30 years.