Russian opposition media outlets, citing sources, report that the Kremlin is discussing a new wave of mobilization. According to the outlets’ sources, a final decision has not yet been made.
According to Verstka, the flow of new recruits in Russia fell by a third in the spring compared with the same period in 2025. In Moscow, 1,708 contract soldiers were sent to the front in April and 1,378 in May. That is about 1,000 fewer people than a year earlier and is comparable to 2024 levels, before the capital introduced million-ruble payments for signing a contract with the Defense Ministry.
A source in the Moscow mayor’s office says the downward trend continued in June 2026. At the same time, according to him, Moscow is “not even doing the worst by national standards.” Sources in other regions confirm this.
“The flow is now being increased mainly through the cops,” a source at a military enlistment office said. He was referring to a practice in which detainees and suspects are offered a contract in exchange for charges being dropped or for police declining to draw up a report.
Among the options for solving the shortage of contract soldiers, the authorities, according to sources, are discussing a new wave of mobilization. Eight sources working with the presidential administration, as well as sources in military enlistment offices and people close to the FSB, told Verstka and Important Stories about rumors of possible preparations for it.
According to one of them, preparations for a mass recruitment drive into the army have been under way for several months. Officially, however, such measures “will never be called mobilization.”
A source overseeing the recruitment of contract soldiers at one state corporation says that “starting in October,” the military will be ready to take tens of thousands of people for accelerated training at ranges and then “distribute them to active units” in such batches.
The outlets’ sources speak of a possible mobilization in autumn 2026—in October, after the State Duma elections. They stress, however, that no decision has been made, including because of fears of negative social, political and economic consequences.
Russian authorities officially deny preparing for mobilization and call reports about it “enemy disinformation.”
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