Radio Free Europe previously reported that recruiters are promising signing bonuses to potential recruits of $2,390 and monthly salaries of up to $4,160. Such migrants are also offered an expedited process of obtaining Russian citizenship. This procedure usually takes five years, but the migrant serving the Russian army has a Russian passport within a year.
According to the British MoD, the Russian MoD is trying to reach its target of 400,000 volunteers for service on the Ukrainian front with this recruitment strategy. It seems that the Kremlin wants to avoid a new mobilization at all costs, given the resistance and internal unrest that will ensue.
Active recruitment Kazakhstan
Both the Russian military and the Wagner Group mercenary army are therefore engaged in the search for Central Asians, also reports Caravanserai, a website sponsored by the US Central Command, which is part of the US military, among others. Kazakhs are banned from military service abroad, those who take part in a foreign armed conflict risk a 9-year prison sentence. Despite this, there is active recruitment, especially in Kazakhstan’s northern provinces bordering Russia. Social networks and messaging apps are said to be used for this.
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According to the Daily Beast newspaper, there is also talk of forced recruitment and even the kidnapping of young people by the Wagner Group.