Russia wants to recruit 300 thousand contract soldiers for the war: how realistic is this?

Russia intends to increase its army by 300 thousand people, recruiting 30 thousand contract soldiers per month. This indicates serious difficulties associated with huge losses at the front.

Israeli military observer David Sharp told 24 Channel that recruiting 30 thousand contract soldiers per month is too ambitious a goal. The real numbers may be significantly lower, because in order to increase the army by 300 thousand, you need to recruit more than the losses incurred since the beginning of the war, and this could be 400 thousand people.

Lured with large sums

According to Sharp, in many regions of Russia, road for signing a contract amounts up to a million rubles, which is approximately 11 thousand dollars. The amounts are serious and indicate that the Russians are beginning to have certain difficulties recruiting contract soldiers, which were not the case last year.

After the Ukrainian offensive, the Russian military suffered heavy losses. Now the Russians themselves have launched an offensive, which is still ongoing and is accompanied by very heavy losses. If you don't compensate for them, you'll run out of steam very quickly. But it’s hard for me to imagine how they will recruit 350–400 thousand people voluntarily, luring them with serious sums,” the military man noted.

He added that the payment is split between the Russian Ministry of Defense, which pays little, and then regional and city authorities pay.

To avoid a serious shake-up

If the Russians feel that there are absolutely not enough contract soldiers even with an increase in cash rates, they will remember mobilization. And they will also remember it if they think that by increasing the size of the army they can achieve serious successes at the front.

The financial incentive is the main one, but it is unlikely that they have a high chance of gaining 300 thousand without mobilization. And mobilization is a very unpopular step, which immediately leads to anxiety in society: someone is trying to flee abroad, someone is trying to hide. This applies in particular to people who are in important workplaces. In general, this is a serious shake-up that they are trying to avoid, said David Sharp.

He summed up that increasing the Russian army by 300 thousand could give them the opportunity to think about ambitious goals, but only if the economic situation in Russia worsens. Then the financial factor in attracting people to the front may become even more prevalent.

Mobilization in Russia: latest news

• To fulfill Putin’s plan for the spring conscription of 150 thousand people, the Russians began to resort to unexpected methods of propaganda: in addition, that all the media and television are filled with glorification of the army, they launched special propaganda trains, on which they put militaristic prints glorifying service in the Russian army, their equipment and weapons.
• Also, the Kremlin is actively preparing new units for a possible conflict with NATO countries. The training includes individual and unit training, as well as combat coordination, and lasts 27 days.
• By the way, the Ukrainian Defense Forces manage to eliminate almost 1,000 invaders every day. This is approximately the same number that daily joins the ranks of Russians and is trained by them.