The campaign for military contract service has intensified across the country, with the main issue being money by Russian standards. According to media reports, regional publications and municipal government websites are inundated with such announcements.
Thus, recruits are attracted by lump sum payments for entrepreneurs – about 300,000 rubles, and a monthly salary – about 200,000 rubles. A special appendage is offered for participation in offensive operations (8,000) and even for each kilometer advance as part of assault squads – up to 50,000.
True, in the sense of “coffin” money for contract mercenaries, the authorities were stingy. For the death of their relatives will pay 3 million rubles. The mortality of full-time and mobilized soldiers is estimated to be higher.
There is no data on how this approach worked in the face of the increasing losses of the Russian army on the Ukrainian front. Social networks are skeptical about it.
In addition, at a number of universities in the country, in particular at the Moscow Aviation Institute, graduates receive diplomas only after signing the agenda of the registration and enlistment office military.
The current mobilization campaign is taking place under previously announced plans by the Ministry of Defense to recruit approximately 400,000 personnel under the contract.
Such a principle of recruitment has never been used in Russia before, it is deeply flawed in the conditions of growing poverty in the country, but at the same time it does not look like a lifeline for the Kremlin at all, says blogger and social psychologist Alexei Roshchin in an interview with the Russian service media. In his opinion, such measures also testify to the extreme exhaustion of combat units at the fronts and the need for their urgent reconstitution by all means.
“Never before when recruiting for the army was such incredible numbers talked about from the point of view of people living in the Russian hinterland,” he added. – This characterizes the cynicism of the authorities. They did not have and do not have money to increase their insignificant pensions, but for mercenaries – please. It is even strange that no one in the country particularly complains about this. For some reason, people are ready to resent anything, but not such a clearly unfair and immoral distribution of the budget, I note, money from the pockets of taxpayers.
At the same time, Aleksey Roshchin believes that the authorities will not be able to solve the problem only with money. Especially as the fighting intensifies and the losses at the front increase, he specifies: “The war has turned into a bloody massacre, and it is no longer a secret for anyone. Propaganda is silent, but word of mouth works. Everyone understands that the authorities set such prices not even for risks, but for life. And in this regard, the number of hunters who give their lives even for a long ruble has clearly decreased. On top of that, many mercenaries never saw the promised money, at least not in full.
According to the media, servicemen and their relatives bombard the authorities with complaints that they have not received salaries, allowances or social benefits. This is an almost universal situation, recorded in more than 50 regions.
The morale of such an army cannot be raised by definition, says a social psychologist blogger. Under such conditions, the disintegration of the armed forces and riots is only a matter of time, he concluded.
In Russia, there is no longer just a recruitment of contract soldiers, but a “bizarre combination of coercion, distribution of assignments and promises of big money”, a journalist, member of the initiative group of the “Mir. Progress Human Rights” Oleg Elanchik According to him, this applies, among other things, to work with marginalized and dependent categories of people – detainees, migrants, retroceded, etc.
“The goals here, most likely, are precisely so that people don’t feel like a new wave of mobilization is continuing/starting,” he said. “At the same time, measures are being taken to strengthen the conscription infrastructure itself and expand its capabilities – this increases both the age of conscription and a dense collection of data from the personnel departments of enterprises and educational institutions.”
Apparently, it is possible to recruit people in this way, especially in conditions of increasing poverty and social depression, suggests Oleg Yelanchik: “It really helps the authorities to replenish the depleted resources of the army to some extent. The “recruits” still find suitable personnel who have nothing to hold on to in life and nothing to lose. But the continuous need for “disposable” people (such a term was heard in one of the intercepted military conversations) can hardly be covered by this method of recruitment, which is why the mobilization and conscription infrastructure is underway of construction.
Now, the PMCs and army units are trying to protect remnants of military personnel and those who have gained combat experience, the reporter said, “This is the basis of army stability. Rapid resupply is used for practically hopeless attacks concentrated in several narrow directions (Avdeevka, for example), which, in addition to constant pressure on the enemy, allow to open the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to work there with the artillery. Some of the recruits are sent to training centers in order to quickly prepare for the replenishment of personnel units.
At the same time, Oleg Yelanchik struggled to say how long everything could continue in this mode. “First of all, it depends on the real capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces and when they appear. If the Ukrainian forces are successful, there is still a chance that the Russian army in its current state will simply collapse,” he concluded.
