Russia’s university recruitment drive is an act of desperation
From our UK edition
Despite the Kremlin’s insistence that its war machine remains robust, recruitment figures into the Russian army tell a different story. Moscow is planning to lock in 409,000 new contracts this year – roughly 1,100 recruits a day. However, according to the government initiative Хочу Жить – 'I want to live' – which helps Russian servicemen voluntarily surrender to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, between January and March the average number of contracts signed was approximately 940 per day. It appears that even in Russia's poorest Eastern regions where military service has long functioned as a form of economic survival, increasingly lavish signing bonuses are no longer enough. This matters because Russia’s losses are staggering.
