The ministry said investigation of these incidents showed that “the traces of these crimes lead to Ukraine.”…reports Asian Lite News
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday.
All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.
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 came into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
Compulsory military service has long been a sensitive issue in Russia, where many men go to great lengths to avoid being handed conscription papers during the twice-yearly call-up periods.
Conscripts cannot legally be deployed to fight outside Russia and were exempted from a limited mobilisation in 2022 that gathered at least 300,000 men with previous military training to fight in Ukraine – although some conscripts were sent to the front in error.
In September Putin signed an order calling up 130,000 people for the autumn campaign and last spring Russia planned to conscript 147,000.
Meanwhile, Russia is demanding that Ukraine hand over all people connected with terrorist acts committed in Russia, including the head of the country’s SBU Security Service, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.
The SBU immediately dismissed the Russian demand as “pointless” and said the Russian ministry had “forgotten” that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was the subject of an international arrest warrant.
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement listed violent incidents that have occurred in Russia since the Kremlin’s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, including bombings that killed the daughter of a prominent nationalist and a war blogger, and an incident in which a writer was seriously hurt.
The ministry said investigation of these incidents showed that “the traces of these crimes lead to Ukraine.”
“Russia has turned over to Ukrainian authorities its demands … for the immediate arrest and extradition of all those connected to the terrorist acts in question,” the statement said.
Among those listed in the statement to be handed over are SBU head Vasyl Maliuk, who has acknowledged his service was behind attacks on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland since the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014; the bridge was built after the region was annexed.
“The Russian side demands that the Kyiv regime immediately cease all support for terrorist activity, extradite guilty parties and compensate the victims for damages,” the ministry statement said.
“Ukraine’s violation of its obligations under anti-terrorist conventions will result in it being held to account in international legal terms.”
ALSO READ-Kremlin reveals Putin’s inner turmoil post-Moscow terror attack
