War recruitment: Kremlin to pay thousands of dollars to volunteers

The Russian army also relies on volunteer battalions in the fight against Ukraine.

War recruitment: Kremlin to pay thousands of dollars to volunteers

The Russian army also relies on volunteer battalions in the fight against Ukraine. Apparently, she uses a tried-and-tested means to attract recruits: money.

The Kremlin continues to recruit volunteer battalions. This reports the Institute for the Study of War, which relies on regional media. Accordingly, in the Yaroslavl region, volunteers aged 20 to 50 with military experience would be recruited for the volunteer battalion "Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin". Dozens of residents of the region are said to have already joined the battalion.

Financial incentives also play a major role in recruitment. According to the report, recruits from the Yaroslavl region will receive a one-off payment equivalent to $2,000 and a monthly allowance of $600. This increases to $2,500 as soon as they enter the combat zones.

High salaries and Russian citizenship are also intended to encourage immigrants from Central Asia to volunteer, the report said, citing Ukrainian intelligence information. The Russian armed forces tried to recruit them for the "Sobojanskiy Polk" volunteer regiment - instead of resorting to residents of the Moscow region.

The Russian army is also recruiting volunteers in Kyrgyzstan - apparently using more or less fair methods. According to the Kyrgyz YouTube channel MediaHub, the Russian armed forces are supposed to recruit Kyrgyz men by falsely offering them jobs in the security sector.

Due to a lack of military trainers, the Russian armed forces apparently only train the volunteer battalions from different regions of the country in a shortened manner. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov reports that recruits from various Russian regions are undergoing "accelerated tactical and combat training" at SPETSNAZ University in Chechnya.

The British Ministry of Defense had already reported in mid-July that some new recruits were being trained less well. There are also lower standards when recruiting new fighters for the Wagner mercenary group, including convicted criminals and previously rejected applicants. The lowered recruitment standards would also presumably reduce the effectiveness of the Wagner force and thus its value as a support for the Russian military.