Enticing bonuses and benefits guaranteed to new recruits in Russia. Recruitment agencies work with universities and social service agencies to lure students and the unemployed
As fighting continues on Ukrainian battlefields like Behemoth and both sides prepare for counterattacks that could result in more casualties, the Kremlin’s war machine is in dire need of new recruits. A new campaign is underway this spring across Russia, looking for new recruits to bolster its troops for the war in Ukraine.
Advertisements promising cash bonuses and tempting benefits are seen in the media. Recruiters make calls to potential candidates, Recruitment agencies work with universities and social service agencies to lure students and the unemployed.
The government entices men to volunteer because it desperately needs soldiers, either at makeshift recruitment centers popping up in various areas, or through phone calls from recruitment officials. That way, it can “avoid announcing an official second recruitment wave” after the first proved so unpopular, according to a US think tank.
A Muskbahammer resident told the Associated Press that his employer collected the military registration cards of all male employees of fighting age and said he would make sure they had a deferment. But according to him, there is still a fear of recruitment. “It makes you nervous and scared – nobody wants to suddenly go to war with a rifle in their hands,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliatory actions by the Kremlin. “The special operation continues, so you can expect surprises from the Russian authorities.”