Following the temporary occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation gradually created a fully-fledged system of forced conscription of the residents of the occupied peninsula into its armed forces. From 2015 to 2025, Moscow conducted 21 conscription campaigns in Crimea, during which at least 53,000 individuals were illegally sent to the ranks of the Russian army. In October 2025, the 22nd campaign began, which will last until the end of the year. All these actions contradict the Fourth Geneva Convention, which expressly prohibits an occupying power from compelling residents of the occupied territory to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces.
The Scale and Digitalisation of the Coercion System
The proportion of Crimeans among Russia’s conscripts has steadily increased, from 0.32% in 2015 to nearly 2% after 2020. This figure may seem insignificant, but in the context of the temporarily occupied territory, it indicates a systematic and deliberate depletion of Crimea’s human resources.
After 2023, Russia began to digitalise its military registration: it created a Unified Register of Conscripts and introduced electronic draft notices. In May 2025, this system became operational in temporarily occupied Crimea. Now, a draft notice can be received without personal contact — it is enough for the information to appear in a personal online account. This allowed the Russian occupation administration to control young men without their consent or even prior warning. In parallel, the Russians passed a law that allows conscription decisions to be executed within a year. A transition to year-round conscription is also planned from 2026. These changes demonstrate the Kremlin’s desire to turn forced conscription into a permanent administrative practice, particularly in the temporarily occupied territories.
Criminal Prosecution for Refusing to Serve the Occupier
Since 2015, 626 criminal proceedings under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of Russia — “evasion of military or alternative civilian service” — have been recorded in temporarily occupied Crimea. Half of them were initiated after 24 February 2022. During this period, occupation “courts” issued 511 verdicts, of which 87% resulted in fines, and the rest in suspended sentences or forced labour. The majority of the verdicts only mention “failure to appear upon receiving a draft notice” or “ignoring summons”, which is not a crime under international law. The ethnic aspect is particularly telling: over 30% of those convicted are Crimean Tatars. This indicates the selective and politically motivated nature of the persecutions.
The Human Dimension: Life Under the Pressure of the System
The statistics of illegal sentences do not reflect the true scale of coercion faced by young residents of the occupied peninsula. Individual stories show that military registration in Crimea has turned into an instrument of total control.
An illustrative case is that of a 20-year-old Crimean who managed to escape the occupation as part of the President of Ukraine’s Bring Kids Back to Ukraine initiative. When Russia seized Crimea, the boy was only eleven. Since then, he had grown up in an environment where any manifestation of Ukrainian identity was persecuted.
Last year, he was summoned to a “medical commission” for the first time, and was subsequently handed a draft notice to the Russian army. From that moment, systemic pressure began: occupation security forces came to his home, conducted interrogations, imposed fines, and forced him to sign a “pledge not to leave the city”. The young man was forced to leave his studies and work unofficially to support his family while simultaneously avoiding mobilisation.
A friend from Ukrainian-controlled territory helped save him. She contacted specialists from the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, who, together with volunteers, organised a complex operation to evacuate him. The young man is now safe. His story demonstrates that a generation of young Crimeans is effectively deprived of any choice. For them, evading the Russian army means not only the risk of a criminal record but also systemic repression.
The Involvement of Conscripts in Combat Operations
Illegally conscripted Crimeans are not limited to serving on the territory of the peninsula. It is known that Russian invaders have sent some of them to combat zones. During the sinking of the cruiser “Moskva” in 2022, conscripts from Crimea were killed and went missing. In 2024, at least seven Crimean soldiers were captured in the Kursk region. This is a direct confirmation of the use of illegally mobilised Ukrainian citizens in military operations against their own state.
Conclusions
As of the end of 2025, the Russian occupation administration is conducting its 22nd campaign; no official figures on the number of conscripts have been released. The electronic registration system and criminal prosecutions have turned forced conscription into a mechanism of intimidation and control. Young men avoid formal employment, move between districts, and try to hide their place of residence, while the ability to leave the temporarily occupied territory becomes increasingly difficult.
If the trend continues, from 2026 onwards, Crimea may find itself in a state of constant mobilisation pressure. This means an annual increase in the number of draft evasion cases, the expansion of digital control, and continued violations of international humanitarian law.
By using occupation “courts”, “medical commissions”, and a system of digital registers, the Russian Federation has effectively created a regime of forced military conscription in the territory of Crimea, which bears all the hallmarks of a war crime. Stories like that of the rescued 20-year-old are rare exceptions within the system of the Russian occupation regime.
Illegal conscription in Crimea, in addition to violating international law, serves as a tool for the systematic colonisation of the peninsula by the Russian occupiers and the continuation of repressive methods.