- Russia is replenishing its troops with an unlikely source — African migrants and students.
- Thousands of Africans have been forced to join in Russia’s war against Ukraine, per Bloomberg.
- The country has also been plugging its manpower gaps by sending prison inmates to the battlefield.
I don’t get what vatniks and Russian trolls are trying to do. Yes, Ukraine is at war and conscription is enforced. So what? What do they expect from a country invaded unprovoked and in a total war as a result?
I think what trolls are trying to do is not trying to demoralise the opponents, but reinforce the propaganda back home in Russia. Russian propaganda is already telling the Russians that they are winning and Ukraine is losing, even though Russia have lost way more soldiers than Ukrainians did in terms of ratio. Yes, Ukraine has fewer people so they are running out of soldiers and recruiting older folks; but Russia has lost plenty more but don’t want to tap the huge but politically-sensitive Russian urban population who will not appreciate being drafted.
Other way around - the mobilization age was just lowered, from 27 to 25