Crimea is not meeting Russia’s conscription quotas for contract servicemen
The Military Registration and Enlistment office of the annexed Crimea, under the authority of the Kremlin, was ordered to recruit 1,400 contractors to serve in the Armed Forces of Russia, as reported on the Crimean website, Kryminform, citing the head of the Department of Training and Conscription, Vadim Meshalkin.
"We received an order for 1,400 contracted soldiers. So far, about 650 people have expressed their desire to serve...Documents submitted for the remainder are under consideration,” he said.
According to him, orders were signed for 250 people so far.
Meshalkin added there are people in the Crimea wishing to do alternative military service. "As of today, we have 13 such people. Six people are already serving and seven more are scheduled to arrive," he said.
The Chief Enlistment Officer of the Crimea, Oleg Yermilov informed on October 4th that about 500 people have been sent to serve in the military in neighboring Russia and that they will serve in various forces.
The conscripts will be sent to serve in the Moscow region and the Rostov region of Russia.
On October 3rd, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine released a statement demanding that Russia cancel the conscription for military service in the annexed Crimea.
On October 2nd, the Defense Ministry of Russia reported that it plans to draft 2,000 Crimeans for military service.
This is the fourth consecutive year since the annexation of the Crimea that Russian authorities have recruited Crimeans into their army. Many public events on the peninsula are accompanied by massive propaganda from the Russian Armed Forces.
According to Ukraine, Crimeans are called to serve in the Russian army in the streets of the peninsula in defiance of international law and the resolution of the UN General Assembly, which prohibits it.
Human rights activists insist that Russia's actions to recruit Crimeans violates Article 51 of the Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), and the transfer of drafted Ukrainian citizens from the occupied territory to the Russian Federation violates Article 49 of the Convention.