Russia has stepped up its recruitment of students into the military
Russia is stepping up its campaign to recruit students from higher education institutions to participate in the war against Ukraine. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation, which noted that Russian universities are increasingly being used as platforms for recruiting young people.
One such case was documented at Saint Petersburg State University. Students are being recruited into military service with offers of short-term contracts and promises of supposedly safer duty stations, particularly in remote regions of Russia.
The Center notes that in this way, the Kremlin is expanding its system for recruiting new military personnel, using young people as an additional resource to replenish its occupation forces.
Despite promises from university administrations and military registration and enlistment offices about “safe service in the north,” the reality is quite different. Independent Russian human rights activists are sounding the alarm and warning of the main risks to young people:
Under mobilization and martial law in Russia, any signed contract automatically becomes indefinite.
Promises about the Arctic remain only on paper. Immediately after signing the documents, the newly enlisted soldiers are sent to the front lines in Ukraine as assault infantry.
The intensified recruitment of students is linked to the catastrophic rise in Russian military casualties on the front lines, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation. The number of Russians willing to sign contracts—even for huge cash payments—is rapidly declining.
As a result, the Kremlin has imposed strict “quotas” on the leadership of Russian civilian universities—targets for the number of students who must be recruited into the military. To meet these targets, university administrations are using a whole arsenal of underhanded methods:
“Deception and manipulation regarding the terms of service;”
“Administrative pressure (threats of expulsion or problems with exams);”
"Direct coercion and intimidation."
“Thus, Russian higher education institutions have completely lost their educational status, turning into mobilization centers to support the Kremlin’s continued aggression,” the Center for Public Policy (CPP) notes.
This was reported by the Center for Policy and Analysis.
Russia has begun mass recruitment of Ukrainians under the guise of law enforcement officers.
Navalny’s image was used to recruit Russian contract soldiers.
