Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of another 133,000 soldiers to aid his war in Ukraine.

The 18-to-30 year olds will be called up between tomorrow and December 31, but parents have raised fear that the untrained conscripts will be thrust straight into ‘hot’ border regions close to the war zone.

The figure is higher than the same draft last year when Putin recruited 130,000, and in spring when he drafted another 150,000.

The Russian regime is facing an increasing backlash over use of conscripts close to the war zone in defiance of an earlier Putin promise to parents that he would not put recruits in harm’s way.

      • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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        76 months ago

        The last Russian revolution in 1917 was driven by military losses and lack of food. Putin has been avoiding Russian losses by using Indians, Cubans, and prisoners instead of the Russian population. Not sure how they’re doing on food.

          • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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            56 months ago

            To be fair I also forgot the Russian mercenaries. Remember Wagner Group? Apparently they’re being absorbed into the Russian National Guard now.

      • @BMTea@lemmy.world
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        16 months ago

        I don’t get why you guys view it this way. They, as Russians, are being utilized by the state and expended in a war of conquest that was initiated by an autocratic leader. The nation has paid a steep economic cost for it. That’s hard fact.

        But it’s also hard fact that their Russian nation is gaining territory. It is true that their country doesn’t control its strategic environment, their historic rivals in America and Western Europe. It is true that the last time they let these rivals lead them somewhere, it was to national decline and humilation.

        So yes, it is a tragedy, but the same one that characterizes the history of nations, and there is a rational element to the ideology that so many Russians now follow. The danger is the irrational element which turns this nationalist war into a racial or religious crusade, which are present but in my view not dominant.

    • @makyo@lemmy.world
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      156 months ago

      I can’t remember what podcast I was listening to, maybe a Dan Carlin series, but it was talking about how in this post industrialization + propaganda era the breaking point for nations is far FAR more extreme than it was in the before times.

    • @tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world
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      86 months ago

      The British gave time, the Americans gave money, the Soviets gave blood.

      The Russian capacity to throw seemly endless bodies toward a goal is virtually part of their mythos. The above quote is from Stalin in regards to defeating the Nazis. The situation couldn’t be more different, other than in the propaganda coming from Putin.

      • @weeeeum@lemmy.world
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        56 months ago

        That’s when people bred like rabbits, Russian fertitility has been dropping for decades and their 21-30 cohort is one of the smallest anongst the population.

    • @scarabic@lemmy.world
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      36 months ago

      I find myself wondering if this is even perceived as a negative at all by the public. Certain people no doubt look at service as a job opportunity and some actually support the goals of the war and believe Putin’s hype about fighting Nazis.

      Has the war effort even gotten through those types yet? Is it really taking fathers away from their families? Are those fathers not bought in on the war?

      This is what I worry about. That Russia is not even straining yet, let alone close to breaking.

  • @rustyfish@lemmy.world
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    716 months ago

    Ah yes, Russian conscripts! Known for such classics as “immediately surrendering because they don’t want to die for nothing in some maniacs war”.

    • @Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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      346 months ago

      There was just a story about a group of surrendering Russian soldiers getting shelled by Russian artillery. It isn’t 100% clear that it was intentional, but its hard to not envision it as a throwback to the Soviet penal legions of old.

      I’m sure by now they have figured out (or rediscovered, more likely) tactics to minimize the risk of their conscripts folding, sadly.

      • @Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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        226 months ago

        It’s a confirmed fact they ordered troops in fallback lines to shoot any fleeing Russian troops trying to pull back on some of the fronts.

    • @GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      86 months ago

      And “that’s a nice washing machine, while looting it I should try to carry it in the open during an active firefight”

    • @AA5B@lemmy.world
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      16 months ago

      It’s unfortunate that Ukraine can’t afford to take a little time to let Russians surrender peacefully. I expect they’d get a lot more

    • vvvvan
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      376 months ago

      Honestly, that window of opportunity for Russians has closed, possibly for a very long time. By now, much of the gov is designed to quickly and brutally control opposition and protests.

      For contrast: Just on the other side of the border a decade ago, tens of thousands of courageous Ukrainians seized a very similar opportunity. They fought and died for it, did not give up, and won the battle. Fuck Putin and his Yanukovych puppets, hello Zelenskyy and EU. But Ukrainians are still fighting to finish the war. They should be incredibly proud of their achievements so far.

      • @SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        126 months ago

        Unfortunately a large portion of the population supports the war and putin. Just look at the level of support just from russians living abroad. It’s most of their population that is all on board.

        • @Jumi@lemmy.world
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          66 months ago

          Russia was never not a propaganda and fear controlled dictatorship, they only changed the paint job from time to time. It’s almost impressive or at least very difficult for one to free themselves from that and open their mind when they, their parents and their parents and so on grew up like that.

          I’m not saying it’s not their fault I just think there’s nuance to that.

          • @SupraMario@lemmy.world
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            36 months ago

            I’d give them a pass pre-internet, but today? In the age were everything is connected, and russia wasn’t like NK which controls everything their citizens see, they have access to the Internet. Which at bare minimum gives them some views outside of the propaganda, they shouldn’t be this supportive of this war.

            • @GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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              26 months ago

              I don’t think you have an idea of how much of an information bubble Russia is in? In case you haven’t noticed the “western” internet speaks almost universally English. Unless you’re in some niche national community you’re unlikely to see any other language. We’re speaking English right now and that’s not my first language. Last time I checked something like 1 in 20 Russians understand English and even less can actually speak it. The vast majority of the Russian population, despite having near full access to the internet, are locked in the Russian sphere of information. And their primary search tool, Yandex, is majority owned by the oligarchs.

              When you live in Russia you really have to go out of your way to escape the Russian propaganda. The vast majority of people in any country would never go to such lengths to get an broader view of a subject. Most probably wouldn’t even understand they need a broader view than what their regular media feeds them.

              • @AA5B@lemmy.world
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                16 months ago

                There’s probably not mucb overlap between those conscripted and those who read and write Western languages.

                … or maybe, do they have access to the internet? Sure, educated people do, Muscovites do, but what about people who have been conscripted from?

    • @Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
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      26 months ago

      Not likely. Far too few there have the mindset to think that it could work. Putin is just one small leap in the collective imagination away from destruction but it doesn’t look like the populace will ever cross that gap.

  • Optional
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    516 months ago

    I’m sure they’re not coming from Moscow. I wish they weren’t forced to be evil, to commit atrocities, to be maimed, emotionally scarred, to be lost to their parents. They haven’t even lived yet.

    Goddamn this corrupt mob in russia.

  • @kungfuratte@feddit.org
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    116 months ago

    It’s just sad to see those young men going into a completely useless war special military operation. A lot of them won’t come home, a lot will return mutilated. Putin is a sick piece of shit.

  • nitrolife
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    6 months ago

    News about how soldiers are called up for military service every year. I remind you that in the Russian Federation, every man, unless he is disabled, is obliged to undergo military training. literally every man has a military ID and a postscript to the military enlistment office. Well, like all 30 years before, people were called up at the autumn draft this year…

  • @IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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    56 months ago

    How soon until we see something like the end of the movie Starship Troopers, where the latest batch of recruits appears to be about 13 years old?

    • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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      56 months ago

      Probably never. They’re trying to avoid conscripting the Russian population of any age, so they’re a long way from taking very young or very old people at large.

      • @rammer@sopuli.xyz
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        46 months ago

        They have been trying to avoid conscripting from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. But they are running out of able bodied men outside those regions. There have been videos of men over 60 and men with health conditions that would preclude them from serving in a sane country. So I don’t think they are that far off. Because when they start conscripting from M and SP they are seriously hurting their economy.

    • nitrolife
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      16 months ago

      Never? Well, or in 10 years. Military conscription has been held in Russia annually for 30 years. And every year there are not much fewer people.