(Bloomberg) -- President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to enroll into the army 147,000 conscripts aged between 18 and 27 during the spring draft.

The spring drafting period in Russia will start April 1 and end June 15, according to the statement posted on the Kremlin’s website. 

Russian army is partially conscription-based. Authorities repeatedly said that conscripts would not be sent to fight in Ukraine and only professional recruits will take part in the war. Putin plans to increase the size of Russia’s military to 1.5 million and the draft age will be raised to 21-30 over next few years.

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