Recent photos from the streets of Russia show a push to lure men into fighting in Ukraine with lucrative contracts.
$4,000 To Fight: What Russia's Military Recruitment Looks Like
This April 13 photo shows a booth in Moscow offering contracts to those willing to take part in the invasion of Ukraine.
Brochures being handed out by the recruiters claim those who sign up will receive an initial lump-sum payment of 195,000 rubles ($2,390), followed by salaries of up to 340,000 rubles per month ($4,160) to take part in what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The booths, including this one outside Moscow’s Soviet-era Space Conquerer’s monument, are apparently part of an effort by the Kremlin to boost its foundering invasion of Ukraine without announcing another mass mobilization.
A September 2022 mobilization resulted in hundreds of thousands of Russian men fleeing the country to avoid being drafted and sent to fight in Ukraine.
Multiple reports of low morale and chaotic battlefield conditions emerged from those Russians who were sent to the front lines.
These images from Moscow were taken by photographers from the Kremlin-linked Moskva News Agency and appear to show men signing up for military contracts.
The caption on this April 3 photo describes the scene as the “opening of a selection point for contract service.”
The caption on this April 3 photo describes the scene as the “opening of a selection point for contract service.”
Men inside the Moscow military office.
Russia’s State Duma approved a law on April 10 giving digital conscription call-ups the same legal weight as papers being handed to draftees, making them effectively impossible to escape.
A poster advertising paid military service in St. Petersburg on April 12.
Russian officials have claimed there will be no second mobilization wave. But the tweaked law on conscription has led many to assume another mass call-up may be imminent if the ongoing marketing push to attract paid fighters does not attract sufficient numbers.