Ever Larger Bonuses for Those Who Join Russian Army Indication that ‘Money Alone is Ceasing to Work,’ El Murid Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 31 – Moscow and the regions are offering ever larger bonuses to get Russians to sign up for service in Putin’s war in Ukraine, an indication, Anatoly Nesmiyan who blogs under the screen name El Murid says, that “money is no longer working” to achieve that goal.

            Even with the new higher bonuses, he says, the Russian army is finding it ever more difficult to fill its ranks; and that is confronting the Kremlin with an ever more politically explosive and thus unpalatable choice (t.me/anatoly_nesmiyan/20314 reposted at charter97.org/ru/news/2024/8/31/608943/).

            Either Putin can declare a mobilization that would allow him to round up as many Russians as he may need, but polls and commentaries show that such a move would be extremely unpopular and that it would at a minimum spark a new exodus among Russians seeking to avoid service.

            Or he can seek to end the war either by upping the ante through the use of ever more dangerous weaponry or by entering into negotiations to bring the conflict to an end. The former would likely lead to the expanded involvement of the West on Ukraine’s side and the latter would offend the siloviki on whom Putin has depended.

            The rapid escalation in the size of bonuses suggest that Putin won’t be able to put off this choice much longer.