検索キーワード： "Elisabeth Braw" 社会科学

In early June, Finns learned that a civilian had put in a bid for a property near a Finnish Defense Force test-shooting range in the town of Taipalsaari, located some 20 kilometers from the Russian border. At first, nothing seemed unusual about this; civilians often live near military shooting ranges. But there was one detail that triggered concern in the Finnish military and government: the prospective buyer was Russian.

In Russia, military service is mandatory for men aged 18 to 27. But according to a recent European Parliamentary Research Service report, each year, half of all would-be conscripts - 75,000 out of an annual intake of around 150,000 young men - are thought to be dodging the draft. And now the conflicts in Ukraine in Syria are expected to push those numbers even higher.