Russia recruits about 400,000 contract soldiers in a year, but real recruitment rate lower than stated — media

In 2024, from 374,000 to 407,000 people could join the army of the aggressor country, russia, on a contract.

This is stated in the investigation of the Vaznye istorii publication.

The investigation is based on data from the state budgets of the regions, which pay each contract soldier when signing documents. This method does not allow to accurately determine the number of recruits — the amount of payments increased several times over the past year.

The russian Ministry of Defense and the Security Council provide inflated figures: Defense Minister Andrei Belousov reported 427,000 contract soldiers, and Dmitry Medvedev — 450,000.

The investigation proves that russian dictator vladimir putin lied when he stated that 1,800 people sign a contract every day — this figure is inflated. Studies in several regions of the russian federation indicate a decrease in activity in the spring of 2025.

German researcher Janis Kluge believes that the real number of new contract soldiers is now about 1,000 people every day. He links the short-term surge at the beginning of the year to the expectation of peace negotiations, which created the illusion of "easy service" for good pay. However, such motivation will soon run out and the number of willing participants will decrease.

Recall that the day before, The Washington Post wrote, citing unnamed Ukrainian military and officials, that in the summer the russian army will launch a large-scale offensive in three regions of Ukraine.

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