Russia Targets Marginalized People for Military Amid Troop Shortage: Report

Russia is stepping up its recruitment of "vulnerable" populations to fight in its war against Ukraine, according to the independent investigative journalist site Important Stories (IStories).

According to an October 3 letter authored by the presidential envoy to Russia's Central Federal District, which was obtained by editors at IStories, regional authorities in Russia have been instructed to recruit military contracts "among migrants, bankrupts, debtors, the unemployed and other vulnerable social segments of society." Newsweek was unable to verify the contents of the letter, although IStories shared screenshots of the document in its report.

Attached to the letter included a document that listed 22 categories of Russian citizens that the Kremlin wants to target in contract-based recruitment efforts, IStories reported. Such orders have reportedly been in place since March 1. The list of categories includes citizens in the military reserve, those with a criminal record and foreign citizens who have applied for or acquired Russian citizenship.

Newsweek emailed the Kremlin's press office for comment Thursday.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs, also reported about a "new recruitment scheme" amid Russia's military in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday. According to Gerashchenko, Russian citizens who are in debt are now facing pressure to sign up to serve in the military.

"Therefore, all data on those who owe loans was transferred to the Ministry of Defense," the Ukraine official wrote. "Now the debtors will be driven into the army by threats: either pay or go to war."

"Basically, a debtor is a credit user who is about 40 years old, has secondary/higher education, has a family and needs to provide for it," Gerashchenko continued. "This requires not only a high income, but also benefits, such as credit freezes, preferential mortgages. The Ministry of Defense tempts Russians with all this."

Amid Russia's rising death toll in its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow officials have taken several steps in recent months to up recruitment to its armed services. In September, reports came out of Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it had uncovered a so-called "human trafficking network" to recruit its citizens to join the Russian military, and recently, the Russian Defense Ministry began recruiting women for front-line roles for the first time since the war broke out in February 2022.

Russian officials have repeatedly vowed to not enact another partial mobilization similar to the one used last fall, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that there is "no such need" for another mobilization. Experts predict that Putin may be holding off on further mobilization efforts due to the first one being wildly unpopular among citizens.