The Largest Recruitment Operation.. What is Russia Planning?

SadaNews - Russia is seeking to recruit 300,000 soldiers by the end of this year, in the largest campaign of its kind since 2016, amid accusations from its Western adversaries that it is preparing to launch more wars in Eastern Europe.

The second part of the campaign, which extends until December, aims to recruit 135,000 Russian citizens aged 18 to 30 who are not part of the reserves, after Moscow recruited around 160,000 at the beginning of the year.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered government institutions and federal agencies to carry out a major recruitment campaign involving federal employees and workers in government institutions, starting from early October of this year.

Rony Reyes, a correspondent for the New York Post in Eastern Europe, reported that Vladimir Tsimlyansky, head of the mobilization department in the Russian General Staff, confirmed that the enlisted soldiers would not be deployed among the Russian forces in Ukraine.

However, the correspondent explained that Ukrainian officials have repeatedly claimed that there are new recruits among the dead and prisoners of war who fall along the front lines.

Putin (center) ordered government institutions and federal agencies to undertake a major recruitment campaign (Getty)

Expanding the Army

In recent years, Russia has been accustomed to conducting mandatory recruitment campaigns twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. According to a report by the New York Post, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, the average recruitment for the Russian army has been around 127,000 recruits each fall.

These mandatory recruitment operations come as part of Putin's decision to expand the Russian army to reach 1.5 million active personnel by 2026, up from about one million.

The newspaper reported that Russia intends to intensify recruitment efforts in the coming period to achieve this goal; thus, it approved a bill last week aimed at canceling the semi-annual mandatory recruitment orders and replacing them with year-round mandatory recruitment to strengthen the Russian army.

A report from the British Telegraph confirmed that since the start of the war in Ukraine, the increase in recruitment operations in Russia has reached 5% each year, which will make the Russian army one of the largest armies in the world.

To encourage Russian citizens to join military service, a study conducted by researchers at the American Institute for War Studies titled: "Generating Russian Power and Technological Adaptations" stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a program he called "The Age of Heroes" aimed at creating a new elite of loyal veterans and appointing them to leadership positions at federal, regional, and municipal levels.

The institute believes that Putin aims, through this project, to enhance the influence of veterans in Russian society and to establish a cadre of loyal military elites that will bolster and protect the Kremlin's interests.

Sconce on Casualties

Every war has its heavy price that burdens the warring powers, both for the Russians, who want to continue advancing along the front lines, and for the Ukrainians, who are trying to resist them.

While Russia imposes a blackout on its casualties, the Ukrainian side and Western entities consider the available information about these losses to often be biased or exaggerated for wartime necessities.

However, conversely, the large recruitment campaigns being conducted by Russia reflect, among other things, a deficiency in personnel that Russian forces are suffering from, whether due to losses incurred in the war in Ukraine or due to the need to cover new military campaigns.

Data from the Russian Labor Ministry shows that the state supported providing 152,500 prosthetic limbs for people with disabilities in 2024, representing a 53% increase over the previous year, where 99,200 prosthetic arms and legs were distributed, which itself represents a sharp increase from 64,800 in 2022.

The report cites the independent Russian agency "Mediazona" as having identified the names of more than 111,000 Russian soldiers killed, using official records, social media obituaries, and gravestone images, but the agency believes the actual number of casualties is much higher.

The report indicates that Russia's losses in the war in Ukraine are about 15 times larger than those sustained in the decade-long Soviet war in Afghanistan, and ten times higher than its losses in the 13-year war in Chechnya.

To maintain support for grieving families, the Kremlin has also resorted to offering generous compensation to relatives of the dead and wounded. According to a study conducted by the "Re Russia" research center, the government allocated about $15.3 billion in 2024 alone to compensate families of the dead and wounded.

In contrast, according to a correspondent for the Guardian, despite the fact that Russia's military casualties since the beginning of its war in Ukraine have remained a state secret, those who scrutinize closely will clearly see signs of devastation through the booming funeral services and the increasing number of warriors returning home without arms or legs.

Continuing the War

Many analysts consider that the large recruitment campaigns conducted by Russia are evidence of its intention to continue the war, and potentially expand it.

Statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin last Thursday during the plenary session of the Valdai International Forum confirmed Russia's advance in its war with the West.

TASS quoted Putin as saying: "We are at war, and all NATO countries are at war with Russia, and they no longer hide this... This poses a serious challenge; however, the Russian army, the state, and the defense industry have adapted quickly."

In the same context, the Russian RT network reported Deputy Russian Representative to the UN Security Council Dmitry Polyansky stating that Europeans continue to portray Russia as an enemy, and this is a dangerous path, adding that Russia is the first country to challenge Western hegemony, which has become endangered, but Western countries do not want to realize that.

Naval Power

In turn, the newspaper "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" published an article titled "The Baltic Cauldron Reaches a Dangerous Boil," considering that the growing military confrontation between Russia and NATO in the Baltic region warns of escalating military instability and transitioning the area to open military conflict.

The newspaper noted that after Finland and Sweden joined NATO, the Baltic Sea has effectively become a "NATO lake," with nine member countries enjoying direct access to the Baltic, in addition to Norway and the UK via the North Sea, while Russia accesses it via the narrow Gulf of Finland and the Kaliningrad coast.

Additionally, "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" mentioned that last June, the American missile destroyer "USS Paul Ignatius" entered the Baltic Sea, with its Tomahawk missiles capable of reaching the Ural Mountains, hence the geostrategic and geopolitical significance of the Baltic Sea.

The newspaper stated that Russia is making efforts to counter this dangerous development and seeks to form an integrated naval force in non-freezing seas, in this regard, Russia aims to create a deep-sea area in the Dvina Gulf on the White Sea.

Imminent Attack

In the context of escalation, under the title "They Urge Russia to Strike Them with 'Oreshnik' Missiles," the newspaper "Argumenty i Fakty" published an article responding to the predictions of some European analysts regarding an imminent large-scale attack by Ukraine on Russian forces.

The article stated that British military analyst Professor Michael Clarke from Sky News predicted a bold attack by the Ukrainian armed forces on Crimea in the coming weeks, "before winter arrives."

"Argumenty i Fakty" added that the British analyst claims this adventure aims to change the Western perception of the Ukrainian armed forces, noting that the Kyiv regime still has some firepower.

The newspaper continues that Professor Clarke's predictions of attacks on Crimea come against the backdrop of a statement from former British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, who called for making the peninsula "uninhabitable," emphasizing that the West is simply obligated to provide Kyiv with long-range missile systems that ensure the "destruction" of Crimea and the Kerch Bridge.

It quoted a senior officer of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, Colonel Oleg Ivanikov, as saying: "This information is objectively confirmed by the available intelligence information in Russia," adding that sources clearly indicate that the Ukrainian regime has decided to test the resiliency of the Russian Armed Forces. Thus, it is expected to utilize all its capabilities to attack Crimea."

The Russian military expert concluded that by this act, the Ukrainian regime forces Russia to showcase the capabilities of the Oreshnik missile system to the world again, according to the Russian newspaper "Argumenty i Fakty."

World War

Russia continues to warn the West against igniting a world war, with Putin on the same occasion describing the West's positions towards Russia as aggressive. He noted that this is evident in the Ukrainian file and NATO's escalation on Russia's western borders, adding that Western aggression has largely succeeded in pushing Trump’s initiatives to solve the crisis towards clinical death and has led Washington back to the path of escalation.

Recently, warnings have escalated in Western circles regarding a potential Russian invasion of other areas in Europe, particularly after NATO planes intercepted Russian fighter jets that entered Estonia, and after the drones - which Russia was accused of launching - penetrated the airspace of several European countries, the latest being Germany and Belgium.

These incursions have created a state of alert, prompting the European Union to dedicate its recent summit in Copenhagen to announce the "Drone Wall Operation" to counter Russian threats.

The Guardian reported European experts stating that NATO's handling of Russian incursions was not firm, prompting Russia to repeat them and potentially consider further actions.

Experts believed that every drone and aircraft that penetrated NATO airspace should have been shot down, as such action alone could compel Russia to retreat.