Russia will begin drafting more soldiers in January 2023, according to a report from Telegram channel We Can Explain (“Mozhem Obyasnit”) citing three unrelated sources in military draft offices in different regions across the country.
According to the channel's sources, military recruitment offices have already received orders from Russia’s Ministry of Defense to begin intensified preparations for mobilization for the war in Ukraine. The authorities do not plan to officially announce the new mobilization wave.
Russia's Defense Ministry has already tasked the offices with the mass distribution of notices and raids on the homes of people liable for military service, the sources said.
A source at the St. Petersburg military commissariat told the channel that the draft offices were warned that “there would be a lot of work in January and February.” A source in the Moscow commissariat added that the staff was obliged to “review the files of conscripts and contract servicemen to send them notices and mobilize [them].”
“What to do is unclear. Officially, the mobilization hasn’t been completed, and everything's been handed over to the regions. But if mistakes happen suddenly (and they are bound to happen), the rank-and-file employees of the military draft offices, as well as their superiors, will be held responsible,” explained a source in a military registration and enlistment office in one of Russia’s northwestern regions.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) recently claimed that a new wave of “hidden mobilization” in the Russian army may start on December 10. Media outlet Verstka also reported on the second wave of the draft, citing its own sources in Russia’s State Duma and Presidential Administration.