Some 10,000 Belarusians to be drafted for active duty before May 5

April 26, BPN. The Belarusian military has launched its spring draft campaign on April 26 aiming to call up about 10,000 men before May 5, the defense ministry’s press office reported.

About 43,000 men aged 18 to 27 will be summoned to the military enlistment offices, it added.

Conscripts will join military units of the Armed Forces, the interior ministry’s internal troops, border guard units and state security agencies.

New recruits are expected to take the oath of enlistment on May 20.

On February 16, Alaksandr Łukašenka said that the Belarusian army had about 75,000 active personnel and up to 500,000 could be added from reserves in case of war.

A few days later, Andrej Bahadziel of the Military Academy told journalists that authorities could potentially call up from 1.5 to 2 million Belarusians for military service.