Context: Another spring call-up for compulsory military service has begun in Belarus. The authorities have not yet announced the exact number of recruits for 2026. Last year, approximately 10,000 people were drafted in each of the semiannual cycles. The current campaign is taking place amid military readiness inspections and law enforcement activity demonstrations. For example, on February 23, the leadership of the Interior Ministry celebrated the Motherland Defender Day with a 5-kilometer battle march.
The CTV TV channel aired a story titled “No Reinforcement” about the state of the armed forces in neighboring countries. On February 26, 2026, the anchor of the 24 Chasa news program reported that “the security of the Baltic States is seriously threatened.”
“There will soon be no one there to safeguard it. Half of young men fail the military service medical examination. This was reported by the European media. For example, about one-third of volunteers in Latvia are rejected for health reasons. Only 22% of candidates are authorized to wear military uniforms.”
It is true that about one-third of volunteers in Latvia are rejected due to health reasons. However, local media wrote that nearly 80% of the volunteers were dropped for medical, administrative, or personal reasons.
The presenter went on to say that “things are not better in Estonia either”:
“There, 35-40% of draftees are recognized as unfit. The main reasons are chronic illnesses and poor physical fitness.”
This is not true. According to local media reports, approximately 25% of Estonian draftees are deemed unfit, while a similar percentage may receive temporary deferments.
In conclusion, the presenter was correct:, “About 30% of young people in Lithuania do not pass the medical examination.” The head of the Lithuanian Armed Forces’ sports club complained to the media about parents’ excessive care and young people’s poor physical fitness. Most of them failed the draftee physical test.
After discussing their neighbors’ problems, the employees of the state TV channel did not draw comparisons with the state of affairs in the Belarusian armed forces. The Weekly Top Fake team did it for them.
The most recent available data on Belarus is from 2019. At that time, a General Staff representative admitted that 66% of conscripts failed the medical examination. Three years earlier, the figure was around 50%. In other words, the health of young people in Belarus was worse than in any of the Baltic States. Since then, however, the health requirements for conscripts have been relaxed several times.
For comparison, about a quarter of potential soldiers in Russia are eliminated for health reasons. In the United States, nearly 80% of young people do not meet the requirements.