The Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense have instructed Russian regions to ensure the recruitment of 409,000 contract military personnel by the end of 2026. To implement this plan, the authorities are increasing pressure on local officials, trying to avoid announcing a new wave of mobilization.

As Censor.NET reports with reference to the Financial Times, the publication was told about this by sources familiar with the situation.

According to Janis Kluge, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, local authorities are under serious pressure due to quotas set by the Kremlin.

“Local authorities are under enormous pressure and are forced to recruit the necessary number of soldiers every year. They know who has debts, who is under investigation, who has recently lost their driver’s license, and these are the people they are hunting,” Kluge noted.

According to the FT, various methods of pressure are being used in the regions to implement the plan. These include arresting men on the streets, visits by officials to their homes or workplaces, and recruiting debtors, probationers, and recently demobilized conscripts.

At the same time, despite the large-scale campaign, there are fewer and fewer people willing to sign a contract. The founder of the “Walk Through the Forest” project, Grigory Sverdlin, said that it is increasingly difficult for the Russian authorities to replenish the army , and the Kremlin’s reluctance to announce a new mobilization is forcing the military leadership to put more and more pressure on potential recruits.

The publication notes that the new contract soldiers are mainly used to replenish losses at the front, rather than to create trained reserves. According to the publication, despite the increase in the number of troops, the pace of the Russian offensive remains low.

Desertion remains an additional problem for the Russian army. According to the human rights organization Peace Plea, at least 28,000 servicemen have already been convicted for deserting their military units. Ukrainian analytical group Frontelligence Insight, citing internal Russian documents, previously reported that the real number of such cases could be at least twice as high.

Carnegie Endowment military expert Michael Kofman believes that without an increase in recruitment rates or new mobilization, the Russian army will once again face a personnel shortage, which will negatively affect its offensive capabilities. Джерело: https://censor.net/ua/n4017681

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