Russia’s former President and Security Council Chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, on Sunday said Moscow had recruited about 280,000 people into the army since the start of the year 2023.

Medvedev made this known during a visit to the Far Eastern Russian island of Sakhalin. He said; “According to data from the Ministry of Defence, 280,000 people have joined the Russian army on contracts from January 1.

“Part of them were in the reserves, part of them volunteers and other categories,” he added,

In early August, Medvedev said the army had recruited around 230,000 people since the start of the year.

According to critics, since the spring, Russian army led a huge publicity campaign to recruit volunteers, with mass advertisements online and in Russian streets, as they belived it also sought to attract future soldiers by promising higher salaries.

In September last year, Russia  made a U-turn on promises not to announce a military draft, announcing a partial call-up to make up for losses on the Ukrainian front that led to the recruitment of 300,000 men.

The announcement also triggered another wave of emigration from Russia, with hundreds of thousands believed to have fled abroad.

Medvedev, who led Russia from 2008 to 2012, has become one of Moscow’s most hawkish voices in support of Putin’s Ukraine offensive.