Russia will likely face hurdles in its reported plans to recruit as many as 400,000 troops this year to replenish its ranks as part of a major recruitment campaign, the British Ministry of Defense said.
In its latest assessment of the conflict in Ukraine, which hit the one-year mark on February 24, the ministry said that Russian media reporting suggests that authorities are preparing to start a "major military recruitment campaign" with the aim of signing up an additional 400,000 troops.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization in September 2022, saying that Russia would be targeting 300,000 reservists and ex-military personnel with "certain military specialties and relevant experience." He claimed in October that this recruitment drive had been completed, but since then, military observers have assessed that Russian troops fighting in Ukraine are being boosted by a covert draft, because he fears the backlash that a widespread mobilization might cause.

The British defense ministry said Russia is presenting its latest recruitment campaign as a drive for volunteer, professional personnel, rather than a new, mandatory mobilization.
"There is a realistic possibility that in practice this distinction will be blurred, and that regional authorities will try to meet their allocated recruitment targets by coercing men to join up," it said.
According to the U.K.'s intelligence update, Russian authorities have likely selected a supposedly "volunteer model" to meet their personnel shortfall in order to "minimize domestic dissent."
"It is highly unlikely that the campaign will attract 400,000 genuine volunteers," the ministry said.
"However, rebuilding Russia's combat power in Ukraine will require more than just personnel; Russia needs more munitions and military equipment supplies than it currently has available."
In February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, assessed that Putin is "evidently reticent" to announce a second call-up, and instead is "again leaning towards conducting 'silent mobilization' due to the concerns over the extreme unpopularity," of his first draft in September.
Putin on March 27 signed a decree removing an upper age limit for Russian National Guard members serving in parts of Ukraine that are under the control of Russian forces—a move the ISW said is part of Russia's efforts to expand its combat power without conducting general mobilization.
The presidential decree states that age restrictions for its citizens in the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation serving in the affected regions—the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—have been lifted until January 1, 2026. The regions were illegally annexed by Putin in the fall of 2022 following "sham" referendums.
Russia's National Guard, or Rosgvardia, is separate from the Russian Armed Forces, and reports directly to Putin. National Guard soldiers have been heavily used in Ukraine throughout the full-scale invasion.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry via email for comment.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more