WSJ: Russia replaces dwindling volunteers with forced recruitment
The Wall Street Journal reports that Russian authorities are increasingly using force to recruit men for the war in Ukraine as the flow of volunteers has dried up. Men are detained on streets and at workplaces, threatened and beaten until they agree to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry.
Russian authorities are increasingly resorting to coercive recruitment tactics to sustain their military campaign in Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal. With the volunteer flow having slowed and Moscow losing the initiative at the front, conscription-age men are being pressured into service by force.
Lawyers, human rights advocates and witnesses report that in smaller Russian towns, men are being detained on the streets and at their workplaces, often under the pretext of document checks. At recruiting centers, they face threats or beatings until they agree to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry. Russian analysts and politicians increasingly see this campaign as preparation for a new mobilization wave.
Although Russia officially still relies on volunteers and offers large cash sums — often exceeding an annual salary — to those who sign contracts, reports about conditions in the army and the extreme danger at the front have made recruitment harder. Law enforcement officers reportedly cooperate with military recruiters, setting traps, using violence and issuing threats to force men to sign up.
Blogger Stanislav Morozov said that among several dozen people he spoke with, most signed contracts only after law enforcement threatened to “find” drugs on them and detain them. In several regions — including Tatarstan, the Amur and Yaroslavl regions, as well as Kaluga, Voronezh and Arkhangelsk — a reward of 100,000 rubles (€1,088) is offered for delivering a man to a recruitment point.
US officials believe these measures have likely increased the number of soldiers at the front, but not enough for major breakthroughs. The Kremlin is reportedly considering another round of forced mobilization, possibly after Russia’s parliamentary elections on September 20. Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said that if Putin insists on capturing the entire Donbas, he may have no choice but to declare mobilization.
Such a step would carry political risks that could outweigh military gains, the report notes. Some Russians have said they will resist mobilization with force. Dmitry Rogin, a 53-year-old reserve officer, said that as soon as he was given a weapon, he would shoot those who had mobilized him.
