Over 422,000 signed contracts with Russian army in 2025, down from previous year

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Newly-mobilized Russian reservists train at a shooting range in Donetsk Region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, October 10, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

MOSCOW  -  Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that 422,704 people had signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces last year, state news agencies reported.

The number of sign-ups is lower than in 2024, when about 450,000 people signed contracts to join the Russian army.

Medvedev, a former Russian president, was speaking at a meeting of fellow security officials about drone technology in video shared by Russian news agencies. 

President Vladimir Putin said in his end-of-year news conference in December that recruitment among drone operators was particularly strong in 2025.

Some 32,000 people had also joined volunteer brigades and gone off to fight in Ukraine last year, Medvedev added on Friday, according to news agencies.

 (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Gleb Bryanski // REUTERS)