To Fill Its Depleted Ranks in Ukraine, Moscow Now Planning to Draft Those with Venereal Diseases and Mental Problems

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 5 – To fill the ranks of its invasion force in Ukraine, Moscow has already been using convicts, something that did not happen before 2022 when Putin launched his expanded invasion. Now, it is planning to take in as soldiers those who would have been excused from service earlier because of venereal diseases or mental problems.
    A proposal to do that has now been published on a government website for purposes of discussion (regulation.gov.ru/Regulation/Npa/PublicView?npaID=153279), and many Russians, especially those with husbands or sons in the military already, are outraged by the idea (newizv.ru/news/2025-02-04/zdorov-goden-v-armiyu-pozovut-s-venericheskimi-i-psihicheskimi-boleznyami-435794).
    Despite this anger and despite the problems for health in the Russian military and unit cohesion, this proposal is likely to be approved, yet another indication of the problems Moscow is having in filling its depleted ranks in Ukraine and its willingness to use men it would have excused from service in the past.