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Considered synonyms: combat, combat service, combat services, deserters, deserteur, deserteure, desertions, draft, drafts, einberufung, einberufung, einberufungen, einberufungen, fahnenflucht, heeresdienst, heeresdienst, heeresdienste, heeresdienste, kriegsdienst, kriegsdienst, kriegsdienste, kriegsdienste, military draft, military drafts, military service, military services, militärdienst, militärdienst, militärdienste, militärdienste, präsenzdiener, präsenzdiener, präsenzdienerin, präsenzdienerin, präsenzdienerinnen, präsenzdiener·in, präsenzdiener·in, präsenzdiener·innen, präsenzdienst, präsenzdienst, präsenzdienste, präsenzdienste, rekrut, rekruten, rekruten, rekrutin, rekrutin, rekrutinnen, rekrut·in, rekrut·in, rekrut·innen, services, waffendienst, waffendienst, waffendienste, waffendienste, wehrdienst, wehrdienst, wehrpflicht, wehrpflicht, wehrpflichtige, wehrpflichtige, wehrpflichtiger, wehrpflichtiger, wehrpflichtige·r, wehrpflichtige·r
20 July 2025 | BBC News (Author)
Russian Federation, Ukraine
Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine: Article on indoctrination campaigns carried out by Russian occupation authorities targeting Ukrainian children
Parades, flags and songs: The campaign to force Ukrainian children to love Russia (Media Report, English)
- "We're providing children with some basic skills which they'll find useful
should they decide to join military service," says Fidail Bikbulatov, who runs
Yunarmia's section in occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region in south-east
Ukraine.
Bikbulatov was deployed from Russia's Bashkortostan, where he headed the
"Youth Guard" division of the ruling United Russia party.
19 July 2025 | BBC News (Author)
Russian Federation, Ukraine
Article on indoctrination of children by the Russian government in occupied areas of Ukraine
Parades, flags and songs: The campaign to force Ukrainian children to love Russia (Media Report, English)
- "We're providing children with some basic skills which they'll find useful
should they decide to join military service," says Fidail Bikbulatov, who runs
Yunarmia's section in occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region in south-east
Ukraine.
Bikbulatov was deployed from Russia's Bashkortostan, where he headed the
"Youth Guard" division of the ruling United Russia party.
17 July 2025 | RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Author)
Russian Federation
Article on methods used by the Russian army to recruit soldiers
Russia Seeks ‘Expendable Manpower’ For Ukraine War With New Recruiting Network (Media Report, English)
- Article on methods used by the Russian army to recruit soldiers
- * By Daniil Belovodyev [] and
* Systema []
When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered what he called a “partial
mobilization” of fighting-age men to fuel the war in Ukraine in September 2022,
seven months into the full-scale invasion, the effect was visible on the
streets and on the country’s borders. […] array of methods to keep the flow of soldiers to the
war going, fromrecruiting in jails [https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-recruited-convicts-fierce-assault-units-storm-gladiator-/32806371.html]
, prisons, andhomeless shelters [https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-war-homeless-recruiting-casualties/33096675.html]
to finding ways to sendconscripts into combat [https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-conscripts-war-combat […] Unlike with Redut, however, a Dobrokor recruit cannot
quit before their contracts is up without risking consequences, including
potential criminal charges for desertion.
“You can’t run away -- not without trouble,” Irina, a recruiter with the
Union of Donbass Volunteers, told Systema. […] As of May, military prosecutors had sent to Russian courts more than 20,000
desertion cases [https://zona.media/news/2025/06/26/20k500] dating back to the
start of the full-scale invasion, the Russian-language outlet Mediazona
reported. […] Some recruiting organizations, such as the Union of
Donbass Volunteers, bring in recruits through all three systems.
Still, far fewer Russians join by signing a traditional Defense Ministry
contract.
2 July 2025 | Jamestown Foundation (Author)
Russian Federation
Article on the establishment of a Cossack mobilization reserve
Kremlin Formalizing Cossack Mobilization Reserve; Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 22 (Special or Analytical Report, English)
- Kremlin Formalizing Cossack Mobilization Reserve; Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 22
- Article on the establishment of a Cossack mobilization reserve
- Regardless of whether Cossacks will serve in BARS-39, the move to
institutionalize the Cossack mobilization reserve is an indication that the
government will continue to encourage Kremlin-controlled Cossack militarism. […] Former conscripts and those with military experience, however,
are called up and obligated to service before the rest of the reserve (Nova.news [https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/shoigu-saranno-richiamati-300-mila-riservisti-poco-piu-dell1-per-cento-della-mobilitazione-totale/]
, September 21, 2022). […] There are currently no plans to increase the size of the
mobilization reserve, which estimates put at two million people (Parlamentskaia
Gazeta [https://www.pnp.ru/social/uvelichivat-kolichestvo-rezervistov-v-rossii-poka-ne-planiruyut.html]
, January 11, 2023). […] This proportion could be increased if those who join the
mobilization reserve also become “registered Cossacks,” but it seems that
Russia’s need for manpower on the battlefield would still far outstrip the size
of the Cossack movement. […] Members of the Cossack mobilization reserve would certainly meet the
requirements of handling modern weaponry and undergoing regular exercises with
the army and other military institutions.
1 July 2025 | Jamestown Foundation (Author)
Russian Federation
Article on increasing parallels between Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and its Soviet predecessor Committee for State Security (KGB)
Russia's FSB Increasingly Playing Ever More Roles Similar to Soviet Union's KGB; Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 22 (Special or Analytical Report, English)
- Eighth, since the start of the war against Ukraine, the FSB has taken the
lead in pursuing deserters and monitoring the military, which the Kremlin has
long feared might be used against it (Mediazona [https://zona.media/article/2024/02/29/desertion-day]; Govorit Nemoskva [https://nemoskva.net/2024/02/29/dezertir-eto-zvuchit-gordo/], February 29,
2024; Sakharov Review [https://sakharov.world/soldatov-borogan-chego-boyatsya-russkie-speczsluzhby
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