Vladimir Putin will lengthen conscription period for young Russian men from one to two years as his forces get bogged down in Ukraine war

• The period of conscription will be lengthened for men, said Lt-Col Mikhail Fotin
• He said 18 to 27 year olds will be called up for 1.5 years from spring 2023
• From autumn next year, young Russian men will be recruited for two years 

Russia is poised to ‘lengthen the period of conscription for young men from one to two years’.

A senior military commissar let the dynamite plan out of the bag in a TV interview – which is likely to trigger a major backlash.

The aim of the ‘Back to the USSR’ conscription scheme appears to be to provide Vladimir Putin with yet more young men as cannon fodder for his war in Ukraine.

Lt-Col Mikhail Fotin said on video that 18 to 27 year olds will be called up for one and a half years starting from spring 2023, and two years from the autumn recruitment next year.

Lt-Col Mikhail Fotin said on video that Russia is poised to ‘lengthen the period of conscription for young men from one to two years’

The Russian defence ministry refused to comment on the plan. President Vladimir Putin is pictured (left) with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (right) in April 2022, in the Kremlin, Moscow

This would restore the conscription system in the Soviet Union.

Since 2008 men have been liable to a one year draft.

Fotin blamed it on NATO expanding close to Russia’s borders.

The Russian defence ministry refused to comment on the plan which triggered a social media frenzy.

An immediate order was given to remove Fotin’s explosive video from TV screens.

The commissar from the Moscow region had said: ‘There will be a transition period in spring [2023].

‘Citizens called up in spring will serve one-and-half years.

‘And those conscripted in autumn 2023 will serve two years .

‘I find this decision quite logical, given that our northern neighbours [Sweden and Finland] are joining NATO.’

No such conscription plan has been officially announced yet there have been strong rumours that Putin wanted to wait until after the New Year holidays in Russia to unveil the bombshell.

Lt-Col Mikhail Fotin (pictured, undated), a commissar from the Moscow region, said: ‘There will be a transition period in spring [2023]. Citizens called up in spring will serve one-and-half years

Lt-Col Mikhail Fotin said on video that 18 to 27 year olds will be called up for one and a half years starting from spring 2023, and two years from the autumn recruitment next year. Pictured: Newly-conscripted Russian soldiers, November 2022

Conscription is potentially compulsory for all men in Russia, yet the offspring of the elite are seldom if ever called up.

The conscription scheme involving 18-to-27 year olds is separate from Putin’s controversial draft of 300,000-plus ‘reservists’.

It could potentially give Russia hundreds of thousands of additional troops for his war which is estimated to have led to the 100,000-plus of his compatriots being killed or maimed.

Fotin claimed his words had been edited incorrectly.

He later said his words were two years old.

Both claims were denied by the TV company Vecherniy Dmitrov that had interviewed him.

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