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<\/p>\nLessons have looked a little different at some universities and technical colleges around Russia this year.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin, struggling to recruit the soldiers required to cover massive casualties in Ukraine, is now tapping educational institutions for their supply of young men.<\/p>\n
Quotas have reportedly been introduced in some institutions, and secret recordings of academic staff and military officials trying to enlist students have gone viral online.<\/p>\n
In one recording taped earlier this year, the director of a transport college in Siberia branded a cohort of 18-year-olds “cowards” for not signing up.<\/p>\n
She railed: “What are you afraid of? Who made you this scared? Who’s gonna protect us?”<\/p>\n
“I’m telling you, go [to the army] right now, and then you’ll get your diploma. Now go sign a contract.”<\/p>\n
Experts have told the ABC this “extraordinary” recruitment strategy is a sign of how desperate Russian President Vladimir Putin has become to sustain the war, amid financial pressures facing his government and a resurgent Ukrainian military, which has been retaking territory on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
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Russian service members take part in a military parade on the streets of Moscow in May. (Reuters: Shamil Zhumatov)<\/p>\n
While neither Ukraine nor Russia releases official numbers of soldiers killed and injured, many analysts believe Moscow’s army has been shrinking for the past five months.<\/p>\n
The country’s prisons have already been raided, and the government is trying to avoid initiating another deeply unpopular forced mobilisation.<\/p>\n
According to reports, the Kremlin has set a quota for 2 per cent of male students to be recruited to the military and it is offering to wipe tuition fees and expunge poor grades for some of those who sign up.<\/p>\n
The independent Russian news outlet, Groza, has reported there are more than 250 universities and technical colleges taking part<\/a> in the recruitment drive.<\/p>\n The strategy first emerged in December. What some people believe started as academic officials encouraging young men to serve their country, has quickly become coercion.<\/p>\n Russia’s ‘highway to hell’ logistics routes<\/a><\/p>\n Ukraine has developed AI-enabled drones capable of making precision strikes from hundreds of kilometres away, and it means using Russia’s vital logistics routes has become a dangerous “lottery”.<\/p>\n Denis* attends a university in Moscow and is among those who have been offered a contract after failing a subject last semester. He told the ABC that in previous years, retaking an exam was a straightforward proposition. Not anymore.<\/p>\n “The university said if you agree to fight then you will not be expelled, you can come back to study and the academic debts will be cleared too,” he said.<\/p>\n “It’s quite difficult to retake any subjects now. It’s as if they [the university] just don’t allow it on purpose.<\/p>\n “They offered us the option to join the military with some conditions that were just unrealistic.”<\/p>\n Denis, 19, managed to exploit a loophole in the system, in which he could avoid signing up by taking a gap year. It required the help of a family friend.<\/p>\n “We found a way, but I know people who went to the military,” he said.<\/p>\n “The way I managed to solve my situation was not strictly legal. I was very lucky.<\/p>\n “Before I realised we had connections, I was expecting to have to go to the army.”<\/p>\n Some of Russia’s top institutions are involved in the recruitment drive, including Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, which held a “drone festival” in February, and the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, which has devoted its website to encouraging students to sign up<\/a>.<\/p>\n A billboard, located outside Moscow State University, encourages people to join the military. (Reuters: Ramil Sitdikov)<\/p>\n ‘Boys are being sent to kill. It’s a disgrace’<\/p>\n Analysts believe Russia is now sustaining about 35,000 casualties a month. Even before this, Moscow’s losses were so severe, the war was described as Mr Putin’s “meat grinder”.<\/p>\n Ukraine has had a mobilisation in force for men aged 25-60 \u2014 with some exceptions \u2014 since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, alongside a voluntary recruitment and incentive-driven programs.<\/p>\n Russia’s previous partial mobilisation in 2022 was fateful. While 300,000 men were drafted into the army, it is estimated hundreds of thousands also fled the country.<\/p>\n Keir Giles, an expert in Russia’s military and the author of multiple books, said the Kremlin was treating another round of forced recruitment as a last resort.<\/p>\n “I think if it were politically viable, Putin would have done it by now,” Mr Giles said.<\/p>\n “The fact that this is still being avoided, even when the Russian armed forces have gone through minor manpower crises in the course of this conflict, indicates what a hard decision it is to make.”<\/p>\n![\"Cars](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f60144fe155585eec0c1dd67b9eb6fc5.jpeg\")
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