Russia's latest "Cannon Fodder" recruitment drives

An outstanding Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty article is shining light on Russia's latest, and most nakedly obvious, attempts to recruit "cannon fodder" for its operations in Ukraine -- an enlistment avenue being used by citizens and legionnaires alike.

Investigative reporting has shown how the Russian government - including its intelligence services and (ostensibly) private military firms -- are using mechanisms like Dobrokor to quickly gather up recruits who might otherwise have rejected more stringent (and more regulated) military enlistment contracts. This comes for a Russian government that's already had habit of pilfering universities and public transportation for foreigners and migrants, as well as marginalized Russian communities, for manpower.

As RFE/RFL notes of the drawbacks:

In a taped conversation with officers that was leaked late last year, Aleksandr Borodai, a Russian lawmaker who heads a group called the Union of Donbass Volunteers, said that military brass sees volunteer soldiers as a “second-rate infantry” whose task is to “exhaust the enemy’s manpower” as much as possible before regular army units mount an attack. In the same recording, he refers to volunteers as “expendable manpower.”