Russian Federation Recruits Students For War Against Ukraine

At least 70 Russian educational institutions were involved in the recruitment.

At least 57 universities and 13 institutions of secondary vocational education have launched a campaign to recruit students for the war against Ukraine, Echo has calculated. Public campaigning is taking place in at least 23 Russian regions and annexed Crimea. The leader in the number of educational institutions luring students to the front was President Vladimir Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg (19). In second place is Moscow (13). Tatarstan (6), Novosibirsk Region (5) and Krasnodar Territory (4) round out the top five.

The signing of a contract with the Defense Ministry is presented as "the main start in life." In particular, this is the wording used by Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (REU) in Moscow, offering service "without taking time off from studies" with transfer to the budget. St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) promises volunteers an additional lump sum payment of 50,000 rubles and the opportunity to continue their studies. Higher School of Economics guarantees academic leave for the period of service, and the Russian Technological University (RTU MIREA) undertakes to pay off the debts of those who do not succeed. At the same time, students are often pressured to attend recruitment meetings, warned of disciplinary measures for non-attendance, called "cowards," and forced to watch a movie about "traitors" if they refuse to enlist, as in the Novosibirsk College of Transport Technologies. Students with poor academic performance are summoned to the management and threatened with expulsion.

Most of the recruitment is for the newly created troops of unmanned systems. They are promoted as "high-tech" and "elite." Students are assured that a contract can be signed for a year. However, Artyom Klyga, head of the legal department of the "Movement of Conscious Refusers," has learned that in reality the service will be indefinite: according to Putin's decree, the extension is automatic until the end of the war.

In addition, the standard annex to the contract revealed that service in the unmanned systems forces is not guaranteed, and a person can be sent to the infantry, because the Defense Ministry establishes a "probationary period" during which it determines the suitability of the new recruit for UAV-related activities.

"Signing a contract to serve in the unmanned systems forces is legally no different from signing the same contract under duress in a pre-trial detention center or in a military unit. There are no guarantees to return alive, just like there are no guarantees to resign at will," Klyga emphasizes.

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