Crimea: Conscripts Ready To Serve In Russian Army

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Conscripts stand at a military conscription office in Grozny, Chechnya's provincial capital, Russia, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. The Russian military has begun drafting conscripts from the province of Chechnya for the first time since a separatist war. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)

Over 50 conscripts in Russian-annexed Crimea prepared to report for duty in the Russian army on Wednesday (November 9).
Dressed in uniforms bearing the Russian coat of arms, the men gathered at a local railway station in Sevastopol for a final inspection, before they departed for the garrisons in Russia’s mainland.
Family members watched on as an Orthodox priest blessed the conscripted men and conducted a special religious service for them.
Natalia Pyzir, the mother of one of the conscripts, told Reuters she had been waiting for this day.
The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was seized by Moscow in 2014 and it now considers it part of Russia.
The men were called up for statutory military service as part of a routine autumn conscription campaign, which began in Russia on November 1.
All men in Russia are required to do a year’s military service between the ages of 18 and 27, or equivalent training while in higher education.