OREANDA-NEWS  About 417,000 Russians have signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense this year, said Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.

"In addition, more than 36,000 citizens joined volunteer formations and went to the zone of a special military operation," he said at a meeting of the Security Council's interdepartmental commission on recruiting Russian military personnel under contract.

Medvedev called these indicators worthy results.

"In 2026, work on the recruitment of the Armed Forces will continue. The head of state has identified its main directions, and one of the priorities will be the staffing of unmanned systems for troops," the Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council also said.

He noted the effective work of the heads of the regions in organizing the selection of citizens for military service under a contract. Medvedev added that the vast majority of the participants in the meeting - and all the heads of the regions of the Russian Federation took part in it - dealt with this issue every day.

"And at the same time, decent results [in staffing the army in 2025] became possible thanks to the patriotism of our citizens who decided to undergo military service. Thank them very much for this," said the deputy chairman of the Security Council.