Will our fathers, brothers and friends be conscripted into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict?

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Following weeks of tension between Ukraine and Russia - which, in itself, comes as a result of decades-long unrest between the two nations - Vladimir Putin announced an invasion of Ukraine.

Televised from Russia at 05:55 (Moscow time) on Thursday 24th of February 2022, President Putin announced a ‘military operation’ in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. In his speech, Mr Putin asserted that Russia was intervening as an act of self defense and that while he did NOT want to occupy Ukraine, his aims were to demilitarize and ‘de-Nazify’ it. He made further warnings to external powers, saying that any outside intervention would beget an ‘instant’ response. 

While this conflict initially involved two nations, alliances have meant countries like the UK, Germany and the USA are now involved, implementing sanctions and sending military personnel out of concern for Ukraine’s safety. However, will this involvement intensity?  And will the Russian-Ukrainian conflict mean that the people we know and love be forced into conscription?

In order to answer that question, we have to ascertain the causes for this war. A succinct video, published by The Guardian, outlines two main aims of Putin’s involvement in Ukraine: firstly, Putin wants a say in Ukraine's future and involvement in it's geopolitical direction. Putin believes that Russia and Ukraine are, in his own words, ‘one people - a single, whole’ and so should be united. By occupying Ukraine, he can take back this control and cement unification.  Secondly, he wants to eliminate NATO’s presence in Ukraine. By allowing that, it means NATO’s influence will be right up to Russia’s borders and that, to Putin, is a security threat.

Owing to allegiances to NATO, the UK has since been involved in the conflict and recently has intensified their aid to Ukraine. On top of a package of sanctions UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed on Russia, he has also decided to double the number of UK troops deployed at Eastern European’s borders. Though it is unlikely that, according to Foreign Secretary Lizz Truss, British soldiers would be sent to fight alongside Ukrainian troops and the fact that - to cite NATO’s chief - the alliance would not send soldiers to non-NATO member Ukraine, the decision to station British troops on Ukrainian soil does beget the question of British conscription. 

Fortunately, there is no conscription legislation in the UK. This means that no one is legally required to fight in a war, and only those who wish to pursue a military career will be expected to fight. 

This means that it is unlikely you will be called to bear arms in this conflict. 

The last time conscription was used was in World War 1 and 2 and since 1963, having transitioned into voluntary listing, Britain has remained a conscription-free nation. It has been this way through wars in Vietnam and Iraq so it is unlikely Britain will have a reversal in legislation and suddenly require it's civilians to fight.