Putin rules out new military draft — Kremlin said the same before 2022 mobilization
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin denied any need for a new mobilization wave, even though officials made identical denials in 2022 just days before mobilization was announced.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, ruled out a new wave of military mobilization. He said no scenario currently exists that would require it, describing talk of mobilization as an information attack by adversaries timed ahead of State Duma elections and aimed at swaying the outcome.
Putin acknowledged that waging war is a difficult and complicated matter in which many problems arise, but insisted that a shortage of troops is not among them. This marked the second time in a matter of days that he denied mobilization plans — on September 1, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, he called talk of a post-election mobilization utter nonsense and an information attack on Russia.
Conflicting signals
Sources for Meduza and other outlets have reported since early summer that officials are weighing a new mobilization wave, amid a steady decline in people willing to serve under military contracts and rising Russian losses. In late August, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Western intelligence, that the Russian military is conducting exercises rehearsing mobilization procedures — though sources stressed this reflects only practical preparation and that no decision has been made.
Other officials have echoed Putin's denials in recent weeks. Russia's UN representative Vitaly Nebenzya said in mid-August that mobilization is not planned and not expected, while Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev in late July dismissed such talk as hogwash and a lying provocation.
Russia's last mobilization wave was announced in September 2022, shortly after officials had denied plans to carry it out. It technically remains in effect to this day, since no presidential decree has ever formally ended it, even though large-scale mobilization measures wrapped up within a few weeks back in 2022.
