185 Thousand New Contract Army Joins Russian Military, Medvedev: Attempted Insurgency Has No Effect

JAKARTA - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday some 185,000 new recruits had joined the Russian military as a professional contract soldier since the beginning of the year, as Moscow tried to strengthen troops who had suffered heavy losses on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Last year Russia announced plans to increase its number of armed forces by more than 30 percent, to 1.5 million combat personnel, a complicated task complicated by the large number of undisclosed casualties in the war.

Posters calling on people to join as contract soldiers are plastered across Russian cities, with TV ads often conveying the same message.

"According to the Ministry of Defense, from January 1 to July 4, more than 185,000 people were received in the ranks of the Armed Forces, of which around 109,000 were reserves, as well as categories of other citizens who were summoned to serve under the contract," Medvedev said.

In a video posted on Telegram, he said nearly 10,000 new recruits had joined last week, since a brief uprising by the Wagner Group's army group, whose fighters were given the option to register as regular soldiers.

"I want to specifically note that the attempted armed insurgency has no effect in changing the attitude of citizens to join contract services and get down to the special military operations zone," Medvedev said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

It is known that President Vladimir Putin ordered a "partial mobilization" of about 300,000 reserve troops last September, causing hundreds of thousands of other residents to flee Russia, to avoid being sent to war. After that, President Putin said there was no need for further mobilization.

Medvedev, who was appointed earlier this year to play a role in overseeing Russia's domestic military production, said factories were working around the clock to supply troops in Ukraine.

In Tuesday's comments, he also suggested that assets confiscated from criminals, including ships and high-speed cars, should also be handed over to the military.

He said prosecutors, FSB security services and other agencies must cooperate with the Ministry of Defense, to "take steps to transfer the equipment to our troops as quickly as possible".