Officials of a panicked Russian President Vladimir Putin have been begging foreign recruits to join the army in a bid to avoid call-ups close to the Russian election.
Putin's forces have lost nearly one million fighters during the war on Ukraine, the invaded country claims.
Of those, 793k have been wounded so badly in battle they can not return to the front line, while more than 264k have been killed.
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And with Putin's job on the line in an election he's more than likely going to win anyway in March 2024, his officials are avoiding calling up Russian nationals to serve for fear of it looking bad and losing him votes.
Details of the appeals to foreigners was made public by the UK Government's Ministry of Defence.
According to new figures released earlier today (September 3), online adverts have been spotted in Armenia and Kazakhstan offering around £4,500 to anyone wanting to join, with a salary of around £1,600 being offered.
A spokesman said; “Since at least May 2023, Russia has approached central Asian migrants to fight in Ukraine with promises of fast-track citizenship and salaries of up to $4,160 USD (around £3,500).
“Uzbek migrant builders in Mariupol have reportedly had their passports confiscated upon arrival and been coerced to join the Russian military.
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“There are at least six million migrants from Central Asia in Russia, which the Kremlin likely sees as potential recruits.
“Russia likely wishes to avoid further unpopular domestic mobilisation measures in the run up to the 2024 President elections – exploiting foreign nationals allows the Kremlin to acquire additional personal for its war effort in the face of mounting casualties.”
Despite the unrest in Russia, Vladimir Putin's loudest spokesman openly claimed that the despot will win the next election “with more than 90% of the vote”.
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Press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov was speaking to the New York Times when he admitted that the election in basically rigged.
“Our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy,” he said.
“Mr. Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote.”
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