‘In previous similar campaigns, not many people were recruited. So I wonder if they will achieve this now,’ says Hahn. To achieve this, premiums for remaining families can be increased. “Maybe these people won’t get the equivalent of two, but five thousand dollars and a Lada.”
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Decree
A few months ago, Russian President Putin signed a decree allowing the mobilisation. “That decree has always remained in the city. People can simply be arrested on the street or forced to join the army.” The question is if and when this mobilization will bear fruit for the Russian army. “This is a direct report. This is also done to measure reactions.’
WSJ reporter
Now it has become known that an American journalist has been detained in Russia. It’s about Evan Gershkovich of the business newspaper The Wall Street Journal, who was arrested in Yekaterinburg for espionage. “A problem for media freedom and perhaps also for the Russian-American relationship,” says Hahn. “The allegations against him clearly refer to America. He allegedly spied for his country and revealed state secrets. That makes it a complicated case.”
Freedom of the press has long been under pressure in Russia, at the same time Gershkovich has been an accredited journalist for twenty years. “By our standards, this man has done a particularly fantastic job for the Wall Street Journal.”