Russia began this Sunday the second call of 2023 for compulsory military service in which it plans to recruit 130,000 citizens between 18 and 27 years of age and which for the first time includes the annexed Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk.

Along with the beginning of the call-up campaign, which will last until December 31, a law came into force that multiplied by ten, up to 30,000 rubles (a little more than 300 dollars), the fine for not appearing at the enlistment offices.

The Russian authorities have assured that the recruits will not be sent to the zone of military actions in Ukraine or to units located in the “new regions”, as those annexed a year ago in Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Lugansk are called in Russia, despite not to control all of their territories.

Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, head of Organization and Mobilization of the Russian General Staff, stated this Friday that the number of “volunteers to participate in the special military operation (the war in Ukraine) is sufficient to fulfill the assigned tasks.”

According to the sailor, the high command has no plans for “additional mobilization actions” for the military campaign in Ukraine.

Last August, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, promulgated a law that extended the maximum age for compulsory military service by three years, to 30, and which will come into force on January 1, 2024.

The initiative to increase the age of military service was proposed at the end of 2022 by the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, after hundreds of thousands of men of military age left Russia following the mobilization decreed by Putin in September 2022. .