Immediately after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early March 2022, Putin, to reassure Russian society, declared that conscript soldiers were not and would not participate in hostilities and that there would be no additional call-up from the reserve. In the same way, Putin emphasized the needlessness of mobilization.
However, the tactics of “meat” assaults since the beginning of the full-scale invasion led to the loss of more than 600 thousand Putin soldiers and Putin was forced to resort to partial mobilization and mass recruitment of reservists. When cheap human resources (prisoners, “ideological imperialists”, migrants) have been wasted in the meat grinder of war, and the current losses cannot be covered by the influx of contract workers, encouraged by huge financial payments, Putin has no options but to engage in hostilities conscripts
In the first days of the disaster of the Russian troops in the Kursk direction, it turned out that poorly trained, poorly equipped conscripts were thrown to cover the border.
Although back in the spring, when the fighting took place in the territory of the border zone of the Belgorod region, at that time the Minister of Defence Shoigu reported that as soon as intelligence discovered plans to break through the border in the Belgorod region, Putin ordered to change the conscripts who served in the border areas to special forces and contractors.
After the Russian front crumbled in the Kursk direction on 6 August (in two weeks of the operation, Ukrainian troops occupied more territory than the Russians in eight months in Donbas), the Russians saw a helpless Putin, who was trying to distance himself from the events in Kurshchyna, downplaying the level of threat and not without reacting to mass losses and capture of soldiers of the military. What’s more, Putin forgot about his promise not to use conscripts in battles, he threw them to be torn apart by the most prepared Ukrainian unit. The result of the confrontation between unarmed boys, who were promised that they would not go to the front, and Ukrainian formations with huge combat experience is obvious—guaranteed death, which can only be avoided by quick surrender. Pictures of dozens of conscripts in Ukrainian captivity have already been circulated worldwide. Instead of pitting similar Russian units against the best Ukrainian units, Putin decided to throw his own conscripts into the fray. The Russians are trying to maintain their offensive potential in Donbas, and the insane level of losses of combat units does not allow them to transfer reserves from there to Kurshchyna, because bloodless units can quickly lose the kilometres of ruins gained since the beginning of the year.
Therefore, Putin has only one chance left – to use the over 150,000-strong army of conscripts, using them as living cheap “meat”. The regime of the “counter-terrorist operation” announced in Kurshchyna does not provide for the receipt of combat payments, nor the possibility of obtaining the status of a participant in hostilities, and the monthly financial support of a conscript is more than three times less than the daily earnings of a convict-recidivist who has entered into a contract.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kurshchyna, the fate of several hundred conscripts remains unknown. Neither in their units nor on the hotline of the Ministry of Defense, relatives can find out about the fate of their children.
It seems that now Putin does not care about reputational losses and risks of aggravation of the domestic political situation inside the country. Instead of involving in the war millions of people in military uniforms, who are involved in various power structures, he decided to sacrifice the lives of a generation of 18-year-old children, based on the usual “yet to be born.”
Putin’s information jackals like Apta Alaudinov are now shouting that it is the duty of 18-year-old children to die in war, otherwise “why does this country need them.” Fat generals, sitting in comfortable Duma sofas, say, who, if not conscripts, fought in World War II, Afghanistan and the Chechen campaigns. And not a single statement by Putin about the withdrawal of conscripts from Kurshchyna. On the contrary, information about the formation of joint field battalions from among conscripts and their urgent transfer to Kurshchyna is appearing en masse. Statements about sending conscripts to the Kursk region have already come from more than 20 regions. Again, representatives of the nations enslaved by Russia were sent out. So, for example, the Buryat units received telegrams with the demand to send a certain number of conscripts to Kurshchyna.
If before that, the participation of conscripts in hostilities was hushed up, investigative journalists established the names of more than 1,426 soldiers under the age of 20 who died in the war, or conscripts were forced to sign contracts, now no one gives a damn. Either you die for free, or you sign a contract, and with a huge probability, you will die even before your first paycheck.
Previously, by law, it was not possible to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defence immediately after graduating from school. First, it was necessary to graduate from a higher or secondary special institution or to serve at least three months as a conscript. It is clear that receiving true information from the front, few people agreed to sign a one-way contract. Now this norm has been cancelled. Once you have turned 18, you have the duty to die for the comfort of the Kremlin elders.
Parents of conscripts, who do not have any information about the fate of their children, except for the video from the Ukrainian captivity, have already registered a corresponding petition, in which they demand the immediate exchange of conscript military personnel from captivity and not to carry out any exchanges of “Akhmat” fighters until all conscripts are returned from captivity. Parents also demand compliance with Putin’s promise not to involve conscripts in hostilities and to punish the guilty.
There will be no reaction from Putin. “Akhmatov” will be quickly exchanged, and the conscripts’ parents will turn grey and shudder at each call. Putin has made his bet and will not give up on it.
How contrasted against this background is Ukraine, which has a much lower mobilization potential, did not involve conscripts in combat operations even in the most difficult conditions, and is currently preparing a draft law granting the right to demobilize to contract soldiers under 25 years of age.
While in Ukraine they protect the youth and leave hope for the future, Russia is depriving the future of an entire generation of children, “abandoning their own” to certain death…
