US Media Opts To Speculate About Russia's Routine Annual Military Draft

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2022) A number of US media outlets, including CNN and the Washington Post, are speculating about Russia's annual military draft amid the country's special military operation in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of the country's annual spring draft. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the conscripts drafted this spring would not be sent to any "hot spots."

Nevertheless, the draft has become a topic of speculation for the US corporate media as they claimed that Russia is drafting young men because its special military operation in Ukraine is allegedly facing difficulties.

Friday's edition of the Washington Post came out with the headline "As Russia drafts young men, some fear ending up on Ukraine's front line," while The Hill put forth "Putin ordering draft of 135,000 amid difficulties in Ukraine war."

CNN went even further by claiming that 134,500 Russians will replace those conscripts who are rotating out of service. As is usual more times than not, the corporate outlet did not provide any evidence to back its claim.

However, the simple fact is that Russian law requires the president to set the draft goal for the conscription campaign very year from April to July with a target number and having some 134,000 conscripts has been the rough number for the past several years.

Putin and Shoigu have repeatedly said that conscripts are not taking part in Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry admitted in March that some conscripts were present in Ukraine but reassured the public that all were withdrawn to Russia.

Russia has obligatory military service for all male citizens ages 18-27. The draft takes place twice a year, in spring and in fall. The term of service for each man is one year and the new conscripts receive basic combat training for a month or vocational military training from three to five months, and then continue their service until the end of the term.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Defense Ministry said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.