Putin’s recruiters scramble to avoid second mass mobilisation as Ukraine losses mount
In kitchens and Telegram chats across Russia, the same question is being asked with growing frequency: will Vladimir Putin order another mobilisation? Nearly five years
In kitchens and Telegram chats across Russia, the same question is being asked with growing frequency: will Vladimir Putin order another mobilisation? Nearly five years into the war, Russia is scrambling to find enough soldiers to replenish its ranks, as voluntary recruitment slows and its forces suffer heavy losses on the battlefield in Ukraine. With Putin showing no sign of abandoning his far-reaching territorial demands, even as Russia’s summer offensive stalls, the Kremlin faces a growing manpower headache. “The problem for the Kremlin is that it is getting much harder to find people willing to fight, even for crazy money,” said Aleksei Tabalov, a human rights activist and director of an organisation that helps Russian conscripts. Putin last resorted to mobilisation in September 2022, when a series of dramatic battlefield setbacks forced the Kremlin to call up 300,000 reservists to stabilise the front. View image in fullscreen A billboard ‘contract military service’ beside a highway outside Krasnodar, Russia. Photograph: AP Since then, Moscow has avoided another deeply unpopular call-up by relying largely on high paid voluntary contracts to fill the ranks with roughly 1.3 million contract soldiers Russia has recruited since. Men, particularly from Russia’s poorer regions, have been offered life-changing signing bonuses and salaries on open-ended contracts amounting to several years of local wages, alongside substantial payouts to their families if they are killed. But Russia’s heavy losses mean it must continue finding new soldiers at a high rate. Western estimates put Russian casualties at more than 30,000 killed and wounded a month, a toll that reflects the army’s attritional “meat grinder” tactics, in which troops are repeatedly sent forward in small assault groups despite heavy losses. Moscow, meanwhile, now recruits roughly 1,000 soldiers a day, according to calculations by Janis Kluge, a Russia expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, which means most new recruits are used to replenish depleted units rather than expand Russia’s offensive capacity.
That has once again raised the prospect of mobilisation. Top Russian officials have dismissed reports of an impending call-up, with former president Dmitry Medvedev describing them as “nonsense” and a “lying provocation” by Ukraine. Two people familiar with discussions in Moscow also said there was no indication that Putin had decided to order another mass mobilisation. A senior western official likewise said there were no signs that a decision had been taken. View image in fullscreen A firefighting helicopter drops water over a food warehouse damaged during Russian drone strikes near Kyiv, 12 August 2026. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters But fears that another call-up may be on the way have nevertheless increasingly entered everyday conversations. In Telegram chats used by local sports teams, work colleagues and groups of friends, Russians swap rumours about a possible mobilisation and share advice on securing exemptions or avoiding the draft. Some speculate that a new call-up could come after September’s elections to the Duma. “It’s guesswork right now whether mobilisation will actually happen,” said Ivan Chuviliaev, a spokesperson for Get Lost, a group that helps Russian soldiers desert. But he said the renewed speculation was already being exploited to boost recruitment. “The panic around mobilisation is being used by officials to pressure men into signing contracts,” Chuviliaev said. “The message is: mobilisation is coming anyway, so you might as well sign a contract now and get a payout before you’re forced to fight.” View image in fullscreen Putin recently signed a law expanding the pool of convicted prisoners eligible to sign contracts with the army. Photograph: Russian President official/APAImages/Shutterstock For now, people familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking say the authorities appear determined to strong-arm more men into signing contracts rather than risk another mobilisation. Over the summer, lawyers and activists have documented increasingly coercive recruitment tactics in several regions, with men detained on the street by police, taken from workplaces or summoned to stations – before being brought to military recruitment offices and pressed to sign contracts.
The BriefWire