[Regnum] Russia has no need for mobilization, President Vladimir Putin said on June 7 at a plenary meeting of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), answering a corresponding question.
“There is no need to mobilize. We are not planning this, ” said the head of state.
If Russia’s goal was to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, the current contingent would not be enough, the head of state said. But Russia has a different tactic, the Russian Armed Forces are pushing out the enemy, and there is no need for mobilization, he noted.
In 2022, 300 thousand people were mobilized into the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces, but even without this, patriotic citizens of the country came and voluntarily signed contracts, and there were more than 300 thousand of them, the president emphasized.
Since the beginning of 2024 alone, more than 160 thousand people have signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces, an average of more than a thousand people a day, Putin said.
While in Ukraine there is forced mobilization, and the United States is demanding that Kyiv lower the conscription age to 23, if not 18, in Russia people come to serve voluntarily, the head of state added.
On May 14, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said at a plenary meeting of the Federation Council that there is no talk of mobilization in the country. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov made similar explanations earlier.
As reported by Regnum, SPIEF runs from June 5 to 8. 136 countries and territories confirmed their participation in the forum. The main theme is “The basis of a multipolar world is the formation of new growth points.”
In his greeting to the forum participants, Putin noted that SPIEF should give a start to new promising initiatives and projects and serve to build up mutually beneficial cooperation between countries and peoples.
On June 5, Peskov, answering the question about the ideology of the forum in 2024, said that Russia notes a significant change in global conditions and advocates business cooperation based on law and on mutually beneficial conditions.