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At the beginning of 2026, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov said at a meeting with rectors of the country’s largest universities that at least 2% of students must sign a contract with the Defense Ministry. Faridaily reported this, citing an acquaintance of the rector of one Moscow university.
Another source in the leadership of one Siberian university also confirmed to the publication that Falkov met with rectors and discussed a plan for signing contracts.
As Faridaily notes, 2.2 million men were studying at Russian universities in 2025. If universities fulfill the Ministry of Education and Science’s requirement, the Russian army will receive an additional 44,000 people. If the same target has also been set for technical schools, then the total number of men signing contracts will amount to at least 76,000.
Earlier, an internal Defense Ministry document appeared in the public domain showing that 78,800 people are planned to be recruited into drone forces in 2026.
Administrations of educational institutions are offering students the option of taking academic leave, signing a contract for at least one year, and going to war against Ukraine. The recruitment campaign in educational institutions began last year. At the same time, Faridaily notes that it became especially active in February 2026. Students are being recruited at no fewer than 194 educational institutions across the country, mainly into drone forces.
Earlier, T-Invariant reported that RSUH intends to recruit 200 students into drone forces, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University 109 students, and Far Eastern Federal University 32 people.
It also became known the day before that the Ryazan region authorities had introduced quotas for recruiting contract soldiers for the war against Ukraine from enterprises as well. If a factory employs 150 to 300 workers, it must send two people to the war; if it employs 300 to 500 workers, three people; and if it employs more than 500 workers, five people.