Russia will begin its fall 2025 military draft by issuing exclusively digital summonses in at least four regions, including Moscow, a senior military official said Tuesday.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week calling up 135,000 men for compulsory service from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 in the largest conscription drive in nine years.
“Citizens will receive electronic summonses alongside paper summonses. At the same time, they will only be sent in electronic form in the republic of Mari El, Ryazan region, Sakhalin region and Moscow,” Yevgeny Burdinsky, a senior military official, told the Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.
Russia’s digital military summons system automatically restricts draftees’ rights, including automatic travel bans, if they fail to report for compulsory service. An online notice is considered legally served seven days after being posted online, even if the recipient does not read it.
President Vladimir Putin signed a law in April 2023 overhauling the country’s draft system by introducing the electronic summons program and a centralized digital registry of eligible men.
The registry allows authorities to issue a summons through the online government portal Gosuslugi, by mail or via the new digital database, eliminating the requirement for in-person delivery, which had made the draft easier to avoid.
Under the law, men who continue to ignore their summons after 20 days face driving bans and limits on loans and real estate transactions.
Last week, Russia’s lower-house State Duma passed a bill in the first of three readings that would move toward a year-round conscription model starting next year.
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