MOSCOW — It’s spring 2023, and a whole new process of mass mobilization has begun across Russia, but the Kremlin wont’ call it that. Instead, since the beginning of March, the country has launched a media advertising blitz to use all powers of persuasion to get men to sign up for the military to join the war in Ukraine.
Russian independent news site Novaya Gazeta Europe reports that at least 53,000 advertisements, in both video and poster form, have been shared on VKontakte, a Russian social media platform. The ads have appeared on a wide range of public pages, from those of regional governors, job centers and local media channels, to hospitals, libraries and even kindergartens.
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The figure represents a seven-fold increase compared to Russia’s largely unsuccessful recruitment campaign for volunteer soldiers last summer. It follows reports from British military intelligence and Russian media that suggest Moscow is seeking to recruit up to 400,000 professional soldiers — on a volunteer basis — to bolster its forces in Ukraine.
Where does your strength lie?
The latest video, released Wednesday, challenges those interested in joining the army to prove they are “a real man” and swap what it depicts as dull civilian life for the action-packed battlefield. The video shows a man in a supermarket dressed in military uniform holding a heavy machine gun. He is then shown in the uniform of a security guard with the question:
“Is this the kind of defender you dreamed of becoming?”
Next in the video, a man is walking through the fog with other soldiers on what looks like a battlefield. He is then shown as a gym instructor helping a client lift weights.
“Is this really where your strength lies?” the video asks, before cutting to a taxi driver taking a client’s fare who then transforms into a soldier on the battlefield.
“You’re a real man. Be one,” says the ad.
Other adverts appeal to those same stereotypically “masculine” traits. One poster reminds those considering joining the army that “Military service is the choice of real men!” before offering them a number of different length contracts with varying salaries. One short-term, six-month contract offers men aged 18 to 60 a starting salary of 200,000 rubles (,500).
“Stability, security, confidence”
Another video released towards the end of last year takes a more sentimental approach. The video shows a grandfather struggling to afford his weekly groceries. The man is then shown polishing his old car and can be seen staring at his beloved automobile from his window.
The grandson asks: “What are you standing there for?”
“Nobody’s called yet,” the grandfather replies
The next scene shows the grandfather negotiating a price for his car. The stranger offers a measly price (30,000 rubles, or 0) that the grandfather is hard pushed to accept (he was hoping for at least 60,000 rubles, or 0). His desperation forces him to accept the offer and he picks up a pen and some documentation to finalize the deal.
At the last minute, the grandson appears in military uniform. “You don’t need to sell the car, grandad!” he cries out, apologizing to the stranger before tearing up the documentation.
“Grandad, I’ve signed myself up to the army. Everything will be alright!”
The grandfather smiles and the two men embrace.
This theme of providing for one’s family is reminiscent of the video released during the partial mobilization that Vladimir Putin announced last summer, in which a man struggling to provide for his daughter goes off to war. When he returns, he hands his her the latest iPhone that his salary provided and the daughter jumps for joy.
One popular refrain that teases similar emotions appears in various posters and billboards: “Contract military service: Stability, Security and Confidence.”
Boys leave, men stay
But it is not just the bravery of men that is celebrated in the most recent round of army propaganda. Doing the rounds now are videos mocking those who chose to leave the country in the mass exodus when the war first began and when partial mobilization was announced.
One video shows a man packing his things into a car. A group of women are watching.
“Where are you going?” they ask him.
“To Georgia,” he responds.
The women turn to one another with disapproving faces. “We had guys at work who left as well.”
An elderly woman crossing the street suddenly slips over and drops a bag of oranges. The man leaving looks at her but gets into his car anyway. A pair of young lads rush over to the woman and help her up.
One of the women comments: “Yes, boys have left, but men remained.”
Volunteers won’t be enough
In March alone, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian army suffered record losses of 24,000 servicemen. “With such losses, the Russian army requires serious injections of personnel, which are impossible on a solely voluntary basis,” military expert Kirill Mikhailov told Novaya Gazeta.
“Last year, people went to war to earn some money on short-term contracts. Now the Ministry of Defense gives out indefinite contracts, which can be terminated only on Putin’s orders,” he adds. “If Russia continues the ‘meat assaults’ that lead to a high expenditure of soldiers, the Kremlin, as in September, will face a choice between strategic defeat and mobilization. I can’t see them accepting defeat…”
