Russia begins largest military draft in more than a decade

Russia is aiming to bulk up its military by drafting 160,000 men between the ages of 18 and 30

The call-up is Moscow's largest since 2011, coming just months after Kremlin leader of Vladimir Putin

vowed to increase the overall size of his military by hundreds of thousands of service members

The 160,000 in the current draft is 10,000 higher than last year during the same time period

Russian officials say the new conscripts will not be fighting in Ukraine. The promise comes as some conscripts were reportedly killed fighting along Russia's border

and others were sent to fight in Ukraine during the early months of the war

The current draft will take place between this month and July. Since early last year, the pool of men available for conscription increased as Russia raised the maximum age from 27 to 30

The move comes as a growing number of Russians are trying to avoid joining the military

and as Moscow has reportedly lost more than 100,000 soldiers to the war in U.S

Ukraine, though the true number might be twice that, according to a BBC ysis

Russia has attempted to make up for those losses through its twice-yearly draft and by bringing

in thousands of troops from North Korea. Moscow's call-up comes as the U.S. attempts to broker

a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which led to President Donald Trump expressing frustration

with Putin over a lack of progress in negotiations. Putin has increased the size of his military

three times since he sent troops to Ukraine in February of 2020

Russia also says the December 2020 buildup was to combat growing threats from the war in Ukraine

and the ongoing expansion of NATO. Finland, Poland, and other Baltic states recently pulled

out of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, citing Russian aggression as it increases

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