Vladimir Putin signs decree on autumn military conscription Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine autumn conscription campaign, calling up 130,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the government website showed on Friday. Reuters reports: All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service between the ages of 18 and 27, or equivalent training while in higher education. Putin’s move comes as Russia’s armed forces press on with their “special military operation” in Ukraine, now in its 20th month. The president, who signed an order in March calling up 147,000 people for the spring campaign, said this month he was bracing for a long war in Ukraine. In July, Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 from 27. The new legislation comes into effect on 1 January 2024. Last year, Russia announced a plan to boost its professional and conscripted combat personnel by more than 30% to 1.5 million, an ambitious task made harder by its heavy but undisclosed casualties in Ukraine. Closing summary Seven EU countries have ordered ammunition under a landmark EU procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted western stocks, according to the EU agency in charge. Top US general Mark Milley will retire on Friday after a four-year tenure in the position. Milley’s tenure included providing military assistance to Ukraine’s defence against the invasion by Russia in February 2022. Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine autumn conscription campaign, calling up 130,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the government website showed. The UK government on Friday imposed an asset freeze and travel bans on officials in the annexed Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Crimea as part of its broader sanctions against Russia. Vladimir Putin reportedly met Andrei Troshev, formerly a top Wagner mercenary commander, to discuss how voluntary fighting units are used in the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said that “very difficult questions” would need to be answered before the EU could start membership talks with Ukraine. Romania is moving air defences closer to its Danube villages across the river from Ukraine where Russian drones have been attacking grain facilities, and is adding more military observation posts and patrols to the area, two senior defence sources told Reuters. Joe Biden has called Gen Mark Milley “unflinching in the face of danger” after it was announced on Friday that the top US general would retire after a four-year tenure (see earlier post at 15.33). The US president said he “once ran across a bridge booby-trapped with mines to stop two battle tanks evacuating wounded troops from driving across it.” “Mark, your partnership has been invaluable to me,” Biden said. In a ceremony at Joint Base-Myer Henderson Hall near Washington, with marching bands and a red-coated fife-and-drum corps, Milley handed over command to air force chief Gen Charles Q. Brown. Milley’s tenure included the killing of Islamic State head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in 2019 and providing military assistance to Ukraine’s defence against the invasion by Russia in February 2022. Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he was confident that both Poland and Slovakia would continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia after imminent elections, despite recent harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv. Poland, which elects a new parliament on 15 October, said last week it would no longer agree to new arms deliveries to Ukraine but instead focus on rebuilding its own stocks. Poland, a Nato member, has been seen until recently as one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its war with Russia. But relations between the two countries soured after Poland’s decision to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports. “I’m expecting and I’m confident that Ukraine and Poland will find a way to address those issues without that impacting in a negative way the military support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview in Copenhagen. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the leaders of five central Asian nations pledged on Friday to cooperate closely on sanctions, in a carefully worded statement that did not pinpoint Russia. The gathering of Scholz and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in Berlin was the first of its kind in an EU country. It came amid suspicions that Moscow has been flouting EU sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine by receiving vital goods via central Asian nations, AFP reports. In a joint statement, the leaders said: The leaders emphasised the significance of close exchanges on sanctions regimes, including dialogue with the EU, and of further efforts to prevent the evasion of sanctions. Specialists will arrive in Ukraine in the near future to draw up plans to establish production of military equipment including air defences, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff told reporters on Friday. “I think very soon specialists will arrive here who will make a plan for our own production of everything that we need. First and foremost, this relates to air defences,” Andriy Yermak was quoted by Reuters as saying. A large crowd gathered for a concert in Red Square in Moscow on Friday, as the Kremlin held celebrations to mark one year since it claimed to annex four Ukrainian regions. The crowd, some of them singing, could be seen gathering near a stage and large screens that read: “One Country, One Family, One Russia”, AFP reports. There were children, families and elderly people, some of whom queued in long lines for ice-cream and took pictures. “Exactly one year ago, historical justice prevailed,” one of the presenters reportedly told the audience, as the crowd chanted “Russia”. “Russia does not abandon its own. We are one country,” he said. Vladimir Putin has declared 30 September “Reunification Day” – one year since Moscow formally claimed the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as its own. Vladimir Putin has said that Russian prisoners who died in Ukraine had redeemed themselves in the eyes of society, AFP reports. To boost regular troops fighting in Ukraine, the army and mercenary group Wagner have extensively recruited from Russian penal colonies. “They are dead,” Putin is reported to have said during a televised meeting, referring to prisoners who died in Ukraine. “Everyone can make some mistakes, they once did. But they gave their lives for the motherland, and fully redeemed themselves,” he said at the meeting with service personnel who fought near Ukraine’s Urozhaine on the southern front. Norway has joined Finland, the Baltic states and Poland in banning entry of Russian-registered passenger cars from 3 October, the foreign ministry said on Friday. The move is a part of western measures aimed at stripping Russia of income to finance its invasion of Ukraine. “It is important that the sanctions are effective so that we prevent as much as possible income that the Russian state needs to finance the war,” the Norwegian foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, said in a statement. Vehicles owned by Norwegian citizens or EEA citizens with permanent residence in Russia or their family members will be exempt from the ban, which applies to vehicles with nine of fewer seats, the Norwegian foreign ministry added. Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have previously introduced similar bans after a directive by the European Commission. Seven countries order ammunition under EU scheme to aid Ukraine Seven EU countries have ordered ammunition under a landmark EU procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted western stocks, according to the EU agency in charge. The orders – placed under contracts negotiated by the European Defence Agency – are for 155mm artillery rounds, one of the most important munitions in the war of attrition between Ukraine and Russia. The scheme was set up as part of a plan worth at least €2bn, launched in March with the aim of getting a million shells and missiles to Ukraine within a year, Reuters reports. Some officials and diplomats have expressed scepticism that the target will be met but the initiative marked a significant step in the EU’s growing role in defence and military affairs, spurred by the war in Ukraine. Top US general Mark Milley to hand over reins after four years Top US general Mark Milley will retire on Friday after a four-year tenure in the position, Reuters reports. Milley will hand over command to air force chief Gen Charles Q Brown, who will be only the second black officer to become chair of the joint chiefs of staff, after Colin Powell two decades ago. A strong advocate for Ukraine’s defence against Russian forces, Milley has championed sending billions of dollars in arms to Kyiv. He has previously criticised Moscow as mounting “a campaign of terror” against civilians in Ukraine, including by targeting civilian infrastructure as part of its war strategy. Vladimir Putin signs decree on autumn military conscription Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine autumn conscription campaign, calling up 130,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the government website showed on Friday. Reuters reports: All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service between the ages of 18 and 27, or equivalent training while in higher education. Putin’s move comes as Russia’s armed forces press on with their “special military operation” in Ukraine, now in its 20th month. The president, who signed an order in March calling up 147,000 people for the spring campaign, said this month he was bracing for a long war in Ukraine. In July, Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 from 27. The new legislation comes into effect on 1 January 2024. Last year, Russia announced a plan to boost its professional and conscripted combat personnel by more than 30% to 1.5 million, an ambitious task made harder by its heavy but undisclosed casualties in Ukraine. Switzerland has announced “further sanctions in connection with the supply of Iranian drones to Russia” in a statement from the government. The measure brings it in line with EU sanctions. It said: In view of Iran’s continued military support for Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, which is contrary to international law, and the fact that Russia is using Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support the military aggression, the Federal Council decided on 29 September to impose further sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Federal Council has adopted the sanctions imposed by the EU on 20 July as part of its new framework for restrictive measures. The sale, supply, export and transit of components used for the manufacture and production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is now prohibited.