13 April 2026
The rate of recruitment of contract soldiers into the Russian Armed Forces fell by 20% compared to 2025.
This is noted in an analysis by German researcher Janis Kluge.
According to his estimates, after a relatively stable 2024, recruitment rates began to decline, and this trend only intensified during 2025–2026.
In particular, during certain periods, the decline amounted to about 20% compared to previous months.
In early 2026, Russia was recruiting approximately 800 soldiers per day, whereas in the first quarter of 2025, this figure was approximately 1,000–1,200 people.
Trends in monthly recruitment into the Russian army in 2024–2026. The blue line shows estimates for 40 regions of the Russian Federation, and the gray line shows an extrapolation for the entire country. Chart by Janis Kluge
Despite this, Russian authorities continue to officially claim stable recruitment figures of 400,000–500,000 contract soldiers annually. However, independent estimates based on an analysis of budget expenditures show a more modest trend.
On average, Russia recruits about 30,000 new soldiers each month. This is enough to offset current losses, but not enough for a large-scale expansion of the army.
Chart showing the average daily recruitment rate for the Russian Armed Forces based on budget payments and official statements for 2024–2026. Analysts calculated the figures using data from the Russian Ministry of Finance and open sources. Chart by Janis Kluge
The recruitment mechanism itself is increasingly dependent on financial incentives. High one-time payments and salaries, which have risen significantly since 2024, remain the main factor in attracting volunteers.
In particular, the federal government has doubled the signing bonus to 400,000 rubles, and the regions add their own payments, which make up the bulk of the compensation.
The analyst also notes a new record in the amount of payments for signing a contract—the average amount in his sample in March reached 1.47 million rubles, while the median was 1.55 million rubles.
Quarterly trends in Russian military recruitment from 2024 to 2026. The blue bars show regional budget data, the dark blue bars show federal budget expenditures, and the gray bars show official statistics from the Russian government. Chart by Janis Kluge
At the same time, this model places increasing financial pressure on Russian regions. On average, they spend up to 4% of their budgets on recruitment, and in some cases—up to 10%, which is effectively equivalent to spending on healthcare or education.
Kluge emphasizes that data from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation allows tracking not only recruitment expenditures but also the actual activity of the regions. According to his calculations, in the first quarter of 2026, Russian regions funded the recruitment of approximately 70,500 soldiers.
Earlier, Militarnyi reported that the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation had set a target for university rectors to recruit at least 2% of the total student body into contract military service. At the beginning of the year, the head of the ministry announced this requirement at a meeting with the leadership of the aggressor country’s largest universities.
You mean they can’t find any more recruits with no fingers? Maybe they need to widen the search find orcs with no arms and legs.
Why not? They already have huge numbers with no brains, including in their general staff.
With several indepentent sources saying the same thing, it must be true that the cockroach horde is either just barely staying equal in number or even shrinking.