Ukrainian intel: Russia using coercion to mobilize 20k people a month

With no public mobilization, Russia is nonetheless mobilizing 20,000 people a month for its war in Ukraine through forced conscription of prisoners, debtors and other unreliable populations

byAlya Shandra

22/10/2023

1 minute read

Russia is secretly mobilizing around 20,000 people a month for its war against Ukraine through various coercive means, Ukrainian intelligence (GUR) representative Andriy Yusov said in an interview with Espresso.

Yusov confirmed earlier GUR estimates that Russia mobilizes “in different ways” approximately 20,000 people per month for its war on Ukraine. The “different ways” include recruitment of prisoners into contracts, forced conscription of debtors, and “unreliable populations,” Yusov explained.

“There is no talk of volunteers,” the GUR representative stressed.

At the same time, Russia continues routine conscription, and widely practices “forced contract signing” with former servicemen summoned to military offices under threat of criminal prosecution if they refuse to sign a contract, Yusov noted.

Yusov emphasized that under such conditions, “talking about the motivation of these people, in terms of ideology, in terms of ‘love’ for their homeland, is out of the question, especially when it comes to depressed regions.”

Earlier, Yusov reported Moscow fears riots and therefore does not publicly announce mobilization but simultaneously prepares the state apparatus for new waves of conscription.

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