Russia’s seasonal military conscription drive is about to become year-round. Here’s what that could mean.

Russian lawmakers Andrey Kartapolov and Andrey Krasov, the chair and deputy chair of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, have introduced a bill that would make Russia’s mandatory military conscription — not to be confused with wartime mobilization — a year-round process. To implement this, they propose amending two federal laws:

• “On Military Duty and Military Service”
• “On Alternative Civilian Service”

Currently, conscription in Russia takes place twice a year: once in the spring and once in the fall.

Formally, yes. For most citizens, conscription would indeed become year-round. The lawmakers propose amending Paragraph 1 of the article titled “Timeframes for conscripting citizens into military service” in the law on military duty as follows:

1. Conscription into military service for citizens not in the reserves shall take place twice a year, from April 1 to July 15 and from October 1 to December 31 annually, from January 1 to December 31, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation…

Because, for reasons not explained, the authors of the bill chose not to alter the existing exemptions for certain categories of citizens. These include:

• Residents of the Far North (who will still be conscripted twice a year — May 1 to July 15 or November 1 to December 31);
• Rural residents “directly involved in planting and harvesting” (eligible only for a fall conscription — October 15 to December 31);
• Teachers (eligible only for a spring conscription — May 1 to July 15).

No. The lawmakers propose setting a separate timeframe for when citizens are actually sent to their places of service — and that period would still coincide with the current spring and fall conscription campaigns.

They’ll carry out other conscription-related procedures, including:

• Organizing medical examinations
• Conducting psychological aptitude assessments
• Holding meetings of the conscription commission

As before, a conscription decision will remain valid for one year.

Yes. The legal language on that has been adjusted to align with the proposed year-round conscription.

The law still requires conscripts to apply in advance if they want to substitute military service with alternative civilian service — at least six months before their expected call-up.

That six-month window remains in place, but it’s now tied to the deployment period rather than the conscription campaign.

It appears the goal is to increase the processing capacity of military enlistment offices. In theory, they would be able to spend half the year conducting medical exams for conscripts and the other half on sending people off to military service. The specifics will become clearer once the regulations on conscription are amended — and the government will introduce those changes only after the bill is passed this fall.

The lawmakers also cite a “directive” from Vladimir Putin dated June 6, 2025, No. Pr-1271. However, that order hasn’t been published.

In an explanatory note, Kartapolov and Krasov suggested their amendments would help “distribute the workload more evenly across enlistment offices and improve the quality of military conscription.”

Maybe so, but there’s no guarantee the new rules will worsen conditions for conscripts. For example, a lawyer with the human rights group Call to Conscience told Mediazona that under the proposed system, “citizens will be able to safely come in to request deferrals or exemptions outside the traditional conscription windows”:

However, the lawyer warned that year-round conscription could create “a false sense of security.” Because the process would be more drawn out, “people may take the risk [of conscription] less seriously and fail to challenge decisions in time.”

At the same time, the processing capacity of military enlistment offices may increase, which in theory could speed up a future wave of mobilization.

The bill’s sponsors are aiming for January 1, 2026. But first, it must pass through the State Duma and win approval from the Federation Council. After that, the president would still need to sign it and the law must be officially published.

The new conscription rules would apply to all men in Russia between the ages of 18 and 30.

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