Russia’s effort to find manpower for its war against Ukraine has extended into Belarus through a recruitment website that advertises large payments and benefits to prospective recruits. The site, zashchitnik.rf, has added Belarus to its “Regions” section and lists the Minsk military enlistment office on Angarskaya Street as a recruitment point.
The website presents the offer as a package for people who take part in the war. It says maximum payments during the first year can reach 17.5 million roubles, or $205,000. It also says relatives would receive 13.2 million roubles, or $155,000, if a serviceman dies.
Its Belarus page states that “participants in the special military operation are entitled to a plot of land in the Republic of Belarus”. It further claims there is a “joint programme of the governments of Belarus and the Russian Ministry of Defence” that guarantees “financial support and social benefits, additional payments for children, medical care and care for parents”.
Belarusian officials have publicly denied knowledge of such an arrangement. When a Belsat correspondent contacted staff at the Minsk military enlistment office, officials said they knew nothing about contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence. The Belarusian Defence Ministry’s hotline also denied any connection to the website or to the recruitment of Belarusians.
The competing accounts leave unclear whether Belarusian officials are helping the Russian campaign, tolerating it, or have no role in it. The number of Belarusians who have enlisted through Russian recruitment channels is also unknown.
The website is one part of a wider Russian drive to recruit foreign nationals. Ukraine estimates that at least 27,000 foreigners from more than 130 countries have joined Russia’s war effort through such schemes. Ukrainian officials and human rights organisations say recruits have been offered civilian work, quicker citizenship or high earnings before being directed into military service and frontline combat.
Accounts from fighters who have joined Russian forces point to a sharp gap between recruitment promises and battlefield conditions. Andrei Kushniarou said recruitment could be followed by rapid deployment.
“There are no precise statistics, of course, but we see many confirmed cases where something like three or five days passed from arriving at the military enlistment office to death,” he said.
Wagner’s presence in Belarus creates another potential channel for recruitment. The New York Times reported last month that Wagner forces had moved to a deserted camp 80 miles from Minsk. Wagner operates as a recruitment centre in Russia outside the control of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Le Figaro reported in a comprehensive investigation that Wagner’s headquarters had returned to full recruiting capacity.
Vadzim Kabanchuk, the Representative for Defense and National Security of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, has warned that the risk of Belarus being fully drawn into the Russian-Ukrainian war is gradually increasing.
That flow of volunteers to Ukraine has now practically dried up. The decline reduces one avenue through which Belarusian opponents of Russia’s war have taken part in the conflict, while Russian recruitment platforms and Wagner’s relocated forces remain present in Belarus. The relative effectiveness of Russian financial incentives and Ukrainian appeals to Belarusian volunteers remains unknown.
Comments (0)