It is no joke.
the BBC also reports it as true.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36718p52eyo
Putin begins biggest Russian military call-up in years
President Vladimir Putin has called up 160,000 men aged 18-30, Russia's highest number of conscripts since 2011, as the country moves to expand the size of its military.
The spring call-up for a year's military service came several months after Putin said Russia should increase the overall size of its military to almost 2.39 million and its number of active servicemen to 1.5 million.
That is a rise of 180,000 over the coming three years.
Vice Adm Vladimir Tsimlyansky said the new conscripts would not be sent to fight in Ukraine for what Russia calls its "special military operation".
However, there have been reports of conscripts being killed in fighting in Russia's border regions and they were sent to fight in Ukraine in the early months of the full-scale war.
The current draft, which takes place between April and July, comes despite US attempts to forge a ceasefire in the war.
