Kremlin spokesperson says he has no knowledge of campaigns to recruit students, business employees for war
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he had no knowledge of campaigns to recruit students and employees of Ryazan region businesses to fight in the war against Ukraine.
“I haven’t seen them, I don’t know whether this information is accurate,” Peskov told reporters. He acknowledged that Russia is running a recruitment campaign for “new troops,” without specifying that the reference was to drone warfare units.
Peskov said there are openings for those who want to serve in these “new troops”:
“This offer exists — it’s on the market, so to speak — and it applies equally to everyone: workers, students, non-workers, the unemployed, and so on and so forth. So it’s a completely open offer, an offer for a new branch of the military.”
Journalists also asked Peskov to comment on reports that President Vladimir Putin had directed the Digital Development Ministry to take steps to restrict the use of VPN services to bypass internet blocks. “I have no knowledge of any such directive,” Peskov said.
On April 1, the newsletter Faridaily reported that the Russian authorities have set colleges a target to recruit contract soldiers for the war — equivalent to 2 percent of their student body. Earlier, iStories reported that Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to enlist 78,800 personnel into unmanned systems forces by the end of 2026, including students.
In late March, it emerged that Ryazan Region Governor Pavel Malkov had signed a decree requiring companies to meet “targets for selecting candidates for contract military service.” The document stipulates that every organization must identify and send between two people (for companies with at least 150 employees) and five people (for those with at least 500 employees) to the war between March 20 and September 20.
Also in late March, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said his ministry had been tasked with reducing VPN use in Russia.
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