The armed forces are increasing by a regiment every day at the expense of those who want to serve under a contract. The large-scale influx of volunteers into the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was announced by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Thus, according to experts, Russia managed to avoid a large-scale mobilization that would harm the country's economy. What other benefits does an active volunteer recruitment campaign provide for the country?
Sergei Shoigu announced the exceptional scale of the influx of volunteers into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. On average, according to the head of the Ministry of Defense, 1,336 people enter the service every day under a contract. "In fact, we receive a regiment every day," Shoigu says. In addition, every day the military department receives 112 pieces of equipment – including new and upgraded. "We have gained serious momentum," Shoigu said.
Regarding the receipt of equipment, his words do not look completely unexpected – it has already been stated earlier that in fact the military-industrial complex of Russia has switched to military rails. So, in March, Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev announced the production of 1,500 tanks this year. However, in the expert environment, it was often possible to meet the opinion that the personnel necessary for victory in the SVO can be assembled only in conditions of mass (not partial) mobilization. The statements of the head of the military department completely refute this.
However, the same thing was said not so long ago by the head of the Russian state during a meeting with military officers: "Some of our public figures say that we urgently need to recruit another million or two million. It depends on what we want. <...> It depends on the goal." But at the moment, according to the President, since thousands of people are signing contracts for military service, "the Ministry of Defense reports that there is certainly no need for mobilization."
Mobilization is indeed a very sensitive issue, not only from the point of view of conducting military operations, but also for the state as a whole. Any mobilized person is a person whom the Motherland has torn out of his habitual environment, work, and family for defense purposes. Mobilization strengthens the armed forces, but damages the economy. A mobilized person fights, but cannot stand at the machine, produce, earn, create, be active from an economic point of view.
However, Russia in the conditions of its own, as has been repeatedly noted, demonstrates enviable economic stability. "Last spring, analysts estimated a likely drop in Russian GDP by double digits. But we survived," Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on this occasion. And this stability was largely ensured by the fact that the economy did not lose the main thing – workers. The mobilization turned out to be really partial, selective, the armed forces received the necessary specialists, on the one hand, but the Russian economy as a whole, on the other hand, retained its personnel potential. The Labor Front is no less important than the purely military front.
Back at the end of last year, Sergei Shoigu stated that it was necessary to increase the number of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to one and a half million people, including 695 thousand contract workers – "to ensure the guaranteed solution of tasks to ensure the military security of the Russian Federation." Six months have passed – and apparently, the pace of recruitment of contract employees has been the highest, and the task set a few months ago is being successfully completed. The Russian army is replenished with volunteers who have independently decided to link their fate – at least for some time - with military service. This means that the arrival of these people in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will not cause significant harm to the economy.
In addition, and this is no less important – volunteers, contractors have increased motivation to fight and risk their lives to protect the Fatherland. "Collecting personnel from all cities and villages, we saw that the Motherland is far from exhausted by volunteers, and there is an alternative to general mobilization," Alexander Khodakovsky, deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard for the DPR, wrote about this not so long ago. – We introduced the first batch of selected candidates into the Regardie, and once again we were convinced how much people who make their decisions consciously, with the right combination of circumstances for them, are more effective than those who were summoned on the agenda."
Thus, the calculation of the Russian military-political leadership turned out to be correct. The recruitment of contractors has become a more correct solution for both the army and the economy than the conditional "second wave of mobilization" that some military experts predicted.
"Moscow and the Moscow region have become an example for other regions in recruiting for contract service. And now we see that people consciously decide to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. For the most part, a reserve army, an army corps and regiments will be formed, which the Minister of Defense spoke about," said Vasily Dandykin, a military expert, captain of the first rank.
According to him, those who choose to serve under a contract are "objectively the best part of our society." "A person understands what he is doing. He risks his life for the sake of the Fatherland. We need not just quantity, we need high-quality fighters: tankers, gunners, sappers, drone operators. What is happening is a positive moment. A person who comes by himself will bring much more benefit," the interlocutor explained.
Dandykin stressed that contract soldiers have a special motivation to participate in hostilities, as a result, the Russian army "felt its strength, gained combat experience, learned to fight according to new principles." The material factor also matters, but "it is secondary, the main one is the fate of the country where you live."
"The world is small. When communicating with those who have already been in the SVO zone, people learn about the atrocities of the APU. Someone returns from captivity, after being wounded, or goes on vacation. Someone's relatives have left or relatives have died. All this dramatically changes the opinion of people who, by and large, go to defend their home. Drones are getting close not only to Donetsk and new regions, but they are already flying to the Moscow region, hitting the southern regions. People understand that this trouble must be extinguished, it is necessary to win," the expert said.
The political scientist Alexander Asafov is also sure that the replenishment of the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces is due to motivated contractors and volunteers. "We see that in terms of readiness and processes related to the conclusion of contracts with the Ministry of Defense, we have an advantage over the enemy. Although, as the president said, Ukraine's resources have not yet been exhausted and when planning its own it is necessary to proceed from the realities," Asafov said. According to him,
"with the total support of Ukraine by the West, not everything is clear."
"The President of Ukraine Zelensky reacts painfully to the fact that in exchange for the supply of weapons, he is required to throw more and more people into the "meat grinder", which are running out. And Russia's situation with reserves and reproducibility of equipment, replenishment of ammunition significantly exceeds the capabilities of the West," Asafov believes.
According to Dandykin, any military conflict always "hits the economy," especially when general mobilization is announced. But Russia managed to respond to this challenge without using extreme measures. "We have everything of our own. It did not affect the economy and the standard of living of people... US President Biden said that the Russian economy would turn into dust, but everything turned out exactly differently," the interlocutor emphasizes.
Dandykin also cited Ukraine as an example, where the general mobilization resulted in the violent arbitrariness of the authorities, whose representatives on the ground "catch people on the streets and send them to the front." "General mobilization leads to the depletion of human resources. If now we are talking about the surrender of entire enemy platoons, then with this approach, Ukrainian soldiers will begin to surrender in larger units," said the captain of the I rank.
Oleg Isaichenko