Kremlin launches massive campaign to boost army recruitment

"The Russian authorities have initiated an unprecedented advertising campaign for contract services in response to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive in the Kursk region," reports the agency Agenstwo.Nowosi. Analysis indicates that this is the largest campaign since the start of the war, aimed at encouraging people to enlist in the army.

The agency notes that the campaign's intensity heightened following the Ukrainian forces' offensive in Kursk and the acceleration of the Russian army's attack in the Donetsk region. "In both operations, Russia needs to recruit new military personnel," it states.

Advertising posts have been seen on Telegram, Yandex, VKontakte, and other federal channels. On Telegram alone, the posts have been displayed 13.5 million times in the past month, compared to an average of only 2.3 million per month since the Russian army's recruitment service commenced.

The previous record for both the number of views and mentions was in May 2023, following the assault on Bakhmut.

"Usually, the primary platform for advertising the contract service is the Ministry of Defence channel on Telegram, but in August 2024, a broad campaign was launched on regional channels. The most mentions of the Sluzhbapokontraktu.rf portal appeared on the Magadan Prawda channel, as well as on the channels of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, pro-Russian authorities of cities in the Donetsk region, and partially occupied regions of the Kursk region," writes the agency.

Furthermore, the channel of prominent Russian propagandist and presenter Vladimir Solovyov (1.3 million subscribers) began calling for people to go to war. In August, four advertising posts mentioning Sluzhbapokontraktu.rf were published there—compared to only 10 such announcements in the previous two years.

In August, regional Russian authorities increasingly utilised Yandex's social advertising service to promote the war. The Moscow City Hall ordered such advertisements for the first time, reaching half a million users. The advertisements emphasised a one-off payment of approximately £20,000 and an annual income of roughly £46,000.

Nationwide advertising of the contract service on this platform is ordered by the Russian Ministry of Digital Development. From January to September, its advertisements reached 328 million users. The monthly maximum reach of adverts was achieved in June—57 million views, and in August 54.7 million views.

Journalist Andrei Zakharov and the human rights project "First Division" discovered that since August, announcements about military service began appearing on the accounts of schools and kindergartens in St. Petersburg.

Media are also involved in the campaign. "Calls to war became more frequent on propaganda talk shows on federal channels. Programmes on Channel One began including commercial breaks encouraging agreements with the Ministry of Defence—unlike other commercial breaks, these are also retained in recordings of broadcasts on the channel's website. Military correspondent Semyon Pegov, who reports from Ukraine for the programme, speaks in the material about the benefits of military service," the agency states.

Dozens of commercials were also broadcast on the TV channel and regional branches of VGTRK (All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company encompassing all public channels). The reports mention a "rise in interest," attributed to the Ukrainian forces' incursion into the Kursk region.

The agency suggests that such intensive advertising campaigns may indicate difficulties in recruiting new military personnel for the war in Ukraine. The authorities effectively acknowledged in July that the rate of new military personnel recruitment had decreased by 30 percent. At the end of the month, Vladimir Putin increased the "payment" for going to war; in the poorest regions, the amount rose by 400 percent.