‘Aren’t You a Man?’: How Russia Goads Citizens Into the Army

The marketing campaign appeared to start out in April. Online, the Defense Ministry revealed a splashy video advert specializing in two central motivations: machismo, and cash. It defines army service as extra significant — and manly — than what’s depicted because the Russian man’s typical, humdrum existence. After moody pictures of civilians remodeling into trendy warriors, the advert ends with a extra down-to-earth reminder: “Monthly payments starting at 204,000 rubles,” or about $2,000.

The themes within the Russian Defense Ministry’s recruitment marketing campaign are picked up incessantly in tv newscasts — as could be anticipated, since all of Russia’s main tv channels are managed by the state. But the news anchors and reporters delivering the message are primarily performing as glorified recruiters themselves, repeatedly reminding viewers of the quick-dial cellphone quantity — 1-1-7 — they’ll flip to in the event that they wish to signal as much as struggle.

Since the invasion’s starting, state tv newscasts have been providing viewers a sanitized view of the struggle. Death and harm of Russians are hardly ever talked about. The struggle itself is referred to with the Kremlin’s anodyne time period, “special military operation,” or just by the time period’s Russian initials: “the S.V.O.”

But there are indicators that, a minimum of in some areas, the prices of struggle have now turn into too widespread to disregard. During a neighborhood morning newscast within the metropolis of Irkutsk, in Siberia, on Aug. 9, a reporter introduces a chunk about new “mobile” recruitment stands with an interview of a Ukraine struggle veteran wounded final yr.

“I got all the payments that contract servicemen are entitled to if they’re wounded,” the veteran, Nikolai Karpenko, says.

“Contract military service, Nikolai says, gave him the chance to show that he’s a real defender of the fatherland,” the reporter intones.

The message: Yes, you can get damage, however the authorities will deal with you. And you should have proven your patriotism.