A “job for real men” is aimed at “courageous patriots”, so online ads are running in Russia looking for volunteers to support what Moscow called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Network saysCNN“The News Volunteer battalions are being formed across Russia to support the war effort in the invasion of Ukraine that has been going on since February 24.
Analysts estimate that more than 30,000 volunteers may be mobilized to support the ranks of the Russian army, which has been depleted over the past five months, as volunteers are expected to be sent to combat battles in the eastern Donbass region.
Last week, Richard Moore, the head of Britain’s intelligence service, MI6, told CNN that “the Russians will find it increasingly difficult to provide manpower and materials over the next few weeks.”
Putin has long resisted the idea of general mobilization in Russia and this spring’s recall was similar to what happened in 2021, as these battalions are one way to increase Russia’s military manpower without taking such a drastic step.
They also seem to focus on the poorest and most isolated areas, using the lure of quick cash, according to CNN.
Volunteers’ contracts range from four months to a year, and they are promised wages well above the average in their areas. For example, battalions formed in Perm and the western Russian region of Kirov provide a starting income of 300,000 rubles per month (about $5,000), while in Bashkortostan near the border with Kazakhstan, the minimum is 280,000 rubles.
Bashkir volunteers from Bashkortostan promised to pay an additional 8000 rubles per day for combat operations.
“During the summer you can easily earn about a million rubles!” said an advertisement circulating on social media channels in Bashkortostan.
‘They keep getting lost’
“Some battalions will participate exclusively in combat support operations (such as logistics battalions or signal battalions), while others will reinforce pre-existing military units or form combat battalions,” says Katerina Stepanenko, a Russian researcher at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.
“Short-term training is unlikely to turn volunteers without prior experience into effective soldiers in any unit,” she added.
CNN asked for comment from the Russian Defense Ministry on the volunteer battalion program.
No prior military experience is required to join the program, which an online ad says takes 4 months to volunteer.
According to the published announcements, the volunteers will be trained for one month, which is not a large period for cases of recruiting people with little or no military experience.
According to standard policy of the Russian Defense Ministry, all recruits who sign a contract must receive four weeks of combined arms training.
Other regions that began to form volunteer battalions were Chelyabinsk in the Urals and Primorsky in the Russian Far East. Pictures of nearly 300 volunteers in Chelyabinsk were published last week.
Stepanenko said the Russians “continue to incur heavy losses without gaining much ground. Thus, they need a constant flow of Russian manpower to compensate for their losses.”