In Russia, the number of volunteers to go to war is skyrocketing.

MoscowGetting on the last convoy, avoiding combat, and pocketing a salary that many Russians can't even dream of earning. This is the hope of many of the men who are rushing to enlist in the army to fight in Ukraine. According to the independent media outlet Viorstka, the number of people who want to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, the so-calledcontracts, has increased significantly in Moscow in recent weeks.

During the first ten days of April, the most recent data available, almost a thousand volunteers came to the single selection point in the Russian capital, practically double the number who did so during the same period in February and March, and triple the number in January. The flow of registrations began to increase significantly on March 17, the eve of the announced call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, at a rate of about a hundred people a day.

The perception that Talks with the United States will bear fruit and there will soon be a ceasefire. pushes candidates to take the plunge in search of easy money. According to Russian political scientist in exile Ekaterina Schulmann, this is due to a climate of unfounded optimism: "People think they won't go to war, that the May holidays will come [in Russia, almost half the month is a holiday], peace, Kirill Dmitriev [the Kremlin's business man with the Americans], and O' national pride, which has just broken records in the United States]."

Along the same lines, German security expert Janis Kluge writes: "Given how the negotiations have gone so far, these hopes are likely to be dashed." According to his estimates, Russia is recruiting between 1,000 and 1,500 people a day.

The surge in enlistments also coincided with news of the rapid recapture of Russia's Kursk region. According to recruiters, this was one of the motivations for the new volunteers, as it occurred in a context of general and unusual euphoria among the sectors most exposed to government propaganda. This same propaganda contributed to cultivating a sense of revenge among many of the enlisted members, who denounced, without evidence, Ukrainian war crimes in that area.

The high figures at Moscow's recruitment center are explained by the fact that it is by far the highest-paying region. Upon signing a contract, soldiers receive a one-time incentive of around 20,000 euros, and within a year, they can earn more than 50,000 euros, well above the average Russian salary. That's why the vast majority ofcontractsThey come from outside the capital.

In fact, regional leaders have embarked on a competition to attract more volunteers. In many cases, payments have increased two-fold in recent months. This is the case in Irkutsk, Tomsk, and Primorye, where authorities have approved three increases so far this year.

However, this escalation could die of success. In an unprecedented decision, in the Yamalia Autonomous District in Siberia, they have reduced the bonuses for going to war by 40% since April 15. Local authorities argue that, as in Moscow, many Russians from other regions were attracted by the salaries they paid. And in the Samara region, in the south of the country, things are more or less the same, although the government has not explained why they have cut their budget.

The machinery does not stop

Despite the high registration rate and the new combatants' intuition that the war is on its last legs, the Russian authorities are not letting up on their calls to the front. Perhaps because regional coffers are not infinite, in Moscow the government has opted to appeal to patriotic sentiment rather than raise soldiers' salaries.

To this end, they have stepped up propaganda campaigns on the subway. As ARA has verified, recruiters position themselves at the stop closest to the recruitment point and activate a PA system that merges with the subway's official voice, announcing salaries for new applicants. Furthermore, the presence of information agents at stations on the city's outskirts during rush hour has increased.

The volume of advertising campaigns about the war on Telegram has also skyrocketed. In March, the number of mentions of the phrase "SVO contract" (the Russian acronym for special military operation, the term the Kremlin uses to refer to the invasion of Ukraine) increased fourfold compared to the previous month, and the highest number of mentions of the phrase "SVO contract" (the Russian acronym for special military operation, the term the Kremlin uses to refer to the invasion of Ukraine) was reached.

This effort demonstrates that Putin has no intention of taking his foot off the accelerator. and will fight until the very last second before a ceasefire is declared, if an agreement is reached. Putin has already made it clear that he has no intention of limiting the capabilities of the Russian army if peace is reached. On April 1, he decreed the largest conscription of young men between the ages of 18 and 30 since 2011: 160,000 men.