‘Commercial mobilization’ Even as Russia’s enlistment numbers fall, Moscow swaps army recruitment billboards for restaurant ads and holiday banners
Even as the Russian military faces mounting losses in Ukraine and declining enlistment rates, Moscow has scaled back recruitment ads, replacing them with promotions for restaurants and holiday banners. Kremlin insiders say the city’s eye-catching ads were drawing plenty of recruits, as people from outside regions signed up in the capital to claim higher sign-on bonuses. However, Moscow’s recruitment drive has left other regions struggling to meet their quotas, and overall enlistment numbers are falling. Meduza special correspondents Svetlana Reiter and Andrey Pertsev spoke with government officials to learn what’s behind the changes.
Moscow authorities have scaled back advertising for military contract service, particularly at recruitment kiosks in metro stations, train stations, and on city streets. The number of billboards and posters promoting service in the “special military operation” — what the Kremlin calls its full-scale war against Ukraine — has also declined.
Two sources close to Putin’s administration told Meduza that military recruitment ads are being replaced with “typical Moscow-style advertising.” By late 2024, ads for contract service on central streets were swapped out for enticements to explore Moscow’s “freshest catch” (mainly restaurants) and New Year banners.
A city government official confirmed the reduction in recruitment efforts, saying, “There are already enough people [being sent to the front]. There’s no need for so much advertising.” Sources close to Putin’s administration offered similar reasoning. “There are enough recruits,” noted one. “But only enough to match the amount of equipment and weaponry available [to the Russian military]. It’s not just about recruiting people — you also have to arm them.”
Moscow and the surrounding region account for roughly 20 percent of all Russian contract soldiers deployed to the front. However, most of these men are actually from other parts of Russia, since enlisting doesn’t require proof of local residence. Many are attracted by the sizable sign-up bonuses: 1.9 million rubles (about $18,300) in Moscow and 2.3 million rubles (about $22,200) in the Moscow region, which are slightly more than what’s offered in most other regions.
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Sources close to Putin’s administration believe that Moscow’s widespread street advertising was instrumental in helping the city meet its recruitment targets. “A lot of people — including, of course, men — pass through Moscow on their way to work engagements or while visiting relatives in other regions. And there are ads everywhere urging them to sign up,” one source explained.
Another source emphasized that these ads were mainly targeted at people from outside Moscow: “[For Muscovites, the banners] became part of the city’s everyday scenery, something people barely noticed anymore… [But] for men passing through, the large payout figures are impossible to ignore.”
Two officials from other regions told Meduza that Moscow’s large-scale recruitment advertising had created “problems” for enlistment efforts elsewhere, even in areas offering comparable sign-up bonuses.
“Word of mouth about Moscow’s payouts has become highly effective. Someone sees an ad there, and soon the news spreads. There’s no similar buzz about other regions. So, men go to Moscow instead. I’m not sure if there are enough people [for the front overall], but we can’t afford to reduce information campaigns about payouts here. We’re already recruiting at the lower limit,” a source in Russia’s Northwestern Federal District said. He added that in regions with lower payouts than Moscow’s, most contracts are signed by people from rural areas.
Sources close to Putin’s administration often describe the recruitment of Russians for the war as “commercial mobilization,” comparing it to the so-called “corporate mobilization” of state company employees to vote during elections. However, a source in Moscow’s city government claims this terminology isn’t used by City Hall.
“It sounds modern. If you frame something with business jargon, it immediately seems more respectable. In the past, we’d round up public sector workers, but now it’s corporate mobilization — we’re meeting KPIs. We’re not recruiting for the war; we’re conducting a commercial mobilization,” a regional official said sarcastically.
The reduction in large-scale recruitment advertising in Moscow, however, could impact the combat readiness of the Russian military. According to quarterly federal budget reports, the number of Russians joining the war has already dropped significantly in 2024 compared to 2023. Last year, the army recruited at least 900 contract soldiers daily, but in the third quarter of 2024, that number fell to 500–600 per day, even as federal signing bonuses doubled during the same period.
Meanwhile, estimates by Meduza and Mediazona suggest that in the summer of 2024, an average of 200–250 Russian soldiers were killed in combat daily, with total irrecoverable losses — including those severely wounded — amounting to 600–750 personnel per day. If the number of new contract soldiers continues to decline, the size of the Russian army in Ukraine could not only stop growing but begin to shrink. This could, in theory, force the Kremlin to consider a new wave of mobilization.
At the same time, the Russian military is increasingly struggling with equipment shortages, an issue that would become critical in the event of another mobilization. So far, losses in weaponry have been offset by tapping into Soviet-era stockpiles, which contain tens of thousands of vehicles and weapons in varying conditions. However, high-resolution satellite images reveal that after three years of war, these reserves are nearly depleted.
Story by Svetlana Reiter and Andrey Pertsev, with Meduza’s Razbor (“Explainers”) team
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