The timing is no coincidence. On the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree concerning this fall's conscription, the Russian government unveiled a record increase in military spending for its 2025 budget bill. On Monday, September 30, the head of the Kremlin ordered that more than 130,000 additional Russians between the ages of 18 and 30 be drafted into military service by the end of the year. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance announced a 30% surge in the defense budget. The message was clear: More than two and a half years after the launch of the Kremlin's "special military operation" in Ukraine – and almost two months after the expansion of fighting into Russia in the wake of the Ukrainian army's incursion into the Kursk region – the president and his government have made clear their determination to continue with the offensive, whatever the human and economic costs.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces has declared that young people called up for the fall conscription "will not be involved" in the "special operation" zones. Such promises have been consistently kept since February 24, 2022, and the start of the offensive in Ukraine. But since then, families have told of their sons being sent to the front. The spring conscription has already called up 150,000 young men. And, on September 16, the Kremlin formalized a decree ordering an overall increase of nearly 15% in the number of soldiers, raising it to 1.5 million from the current 1.32 million. One in every 50 working people in Russia will now be in the army, which, according to Russian media, will make it the second largest in the world after China's. The Kremlin has been facing an increasingly pressing challenge. With the expansion of a conflict that now stretches from the Crimea to the Kursk region, more men will be needed not only at the front but also at the rear. This means that young conscripts could be called upon to carry out back-office missions previously entrusted to their elders, who are now being sent to Ukraine.

All this has come at a cost that has skyrocketed. The 2025 budget, which, in another carefully staged coincidence, was unveiled on the second anniversary of the purported annexation of four Ukrainian regions, must now be voted on by Parliament and signed by the president. A formality without debate or suspense in a parliamentary system at the Kremlin's beck and call. The figures already announced will essentially become the final numbers – defense spending will reach almost 13,500 billion rubles by 2025 (130 billion euros at the current rate).

You have 40.58% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.