Drugs, pressure and deception – Russian media tell how Russian Defence Ministry recruits Russians for war

The Russian authorities have started using new methods of recruitment for the war with Ukraine – they plant drugs, deceive the unemployed and manipulate in every possible way to replace the thousands of people killed at the front, writes the Kholod news outlet.

Source: Russian independent news outlet Kholod with reference to the human rights projects Get Lost (a project that helps Russians avoid being mobilised for the war against Ukraine) and Citizen. Army. Law

Details: Human rights activists say that the Russian Ministry of Defence intimidates 18-year-old conscripts, deceives job applicants and forces people under investigation to sign military service contracts.

One way to recruit people to the armed forces is through fake vacancies, the description of which does not indicate that it is military service. Men are fraudulently invited to military units by offering jobs that are allegedly unrelated to military operations, such as a vacancy for a drone assembly engineer.

Quote from Ivan Chuviliaiev, a representative of the Get Lost project: "People are told: everything will be good and fine, don't worry. And then, instead of an employment contract, they slip in a contract with the Ministry of Defence. And if a person signs it, that's it, he is sent to the front line."

The second method used by the Ministry of Defence is the recruitment of prisoners, people under criminal proceedings and those whose cases are being considered in court. These people are forced to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defence under the threat of a new criminal case being opened, or promised the removal of their criminal record.

The third recruitment method is to lure residents of oblasts bordering Ukraine into The Combat Army Reserve (BARS) volunteer units. Formally and verbally, the BARS-Kursk, BARS-Belgorod and BARS-Bryansk units were created to help local authorities: to assist with evacuations, guard checkpoints, bridges and other facilities, and fight drones and sabotage and reconnaissance groups. But in fact, those willing to do so do not sign a separate employment contract but a standard contract with the Ministry of Defence, under which all those who sign it can be sent to the assault or to the area of the front line where it is most urgent.

The fourth way to increase the number of contract soldiers is through deception, pressure and intimidation of conscripts. Human rights activists and conscripts are threatened with being sent to the hottest spots or that they will be mobilised anyway and promised that if they sign contracts, they will be able to earn money and save their lives.

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