Russia's shrinking army turns to convicts, foreign mercenaries as casualties soar

By Zarak Khan | 2025-04-21

Russia's war in Ukraine is running into a manpower crisis amid a sharp drop in military recruitment, degrading Moscow's ability to field a modern army and forcing it to rely on older recruits, foreign fighters and even convicted criminals to fill the ranks, independent observers say.

Because of stringent media censorship and wartime secrecy laws in Russia, accurately determining the number of Russian casualties in the war with Ukraine remains challenging.

However, since February 2022, independent Russian news outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian Service, has confirmed the deaths of more than 100,000 Russian soldiers based on verified names.

Their estimate of the actual death toll is approximately 165,000, excluding Ukrainian pro-Kremlin separatists and foreign fighters supporting Russia.

To offset these losses, Moscow has been trying to entice new recruits in large numbers for 2025.

The Russian army has two streams of manpower: conscription and contract signings.

Conscription occurs twice a year, once in spring and again in autumn.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the conscription of 160,000 men this spring and said that it was mandatory for all men aged between 18 and 30, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.

Bonuses to lure recruits

The other stream, contract signings, has slowed drastically.

Voluntary military recruitment has dropped fivefold since its peak in mid-2024, with contract signings with the Russian Defense Ministry dropping from 200–250 a day to just 40 now, independent news outlet Verstka reported in January.

This decline continues despite Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin introducing a 1.9 million-RUB (about $22,000) one-time signing bonus last year to attract new recruits.

The lack of young recruits willing to fight in Ukraine has increasingly driven Russian authorities to alternative methods to replenish troop numbers, including hiring mercenaries and foreign combatants, as well as enlisting convicts and suspects under criminal investigation, the Verstka report added.

Young soldiers face hazing, bullying

It also forced Moscow to turn to older contract soldiers, with the average age of recruits rising from 40 to about 50, Verstka reported last year, citing sources within the Russian parliament and the Moscow mayor's office.

However, older recruits face significant challenges on the battlefield, as they tend to be less resilient and physically capable, reducing their effectiveness in combat, the report observed.

Recruiting soldiers in Russia has never been an easy task, even during peacetime.

"Recruits are often subject to hazing and bullying by more experienced soldiers, and as such joining the army is viewed as something to be avoided by many young Russian men," wrote Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex, in The Conversation, a nonprofit news site, last November

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian media exposed poor conditions in the military, highlighting inadequate medical care and severe malnutrition, she added.

"Many Russians may also remember how poorly prepared conscripts were treated who were sent off to fight the war in Chechnya in the mid-1990s," Lindstaedt noted.

'Running out of options'

Moscow's increasing reliance on foreign troops highlights its growing struggle to maintain a capable and modern military force, analysts say.

The Ukrainian military earlier this month captured two Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces in Donetsk province, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said April 8.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv had evidence that "many more Chinese citizens" are fighting alongside Russian forces and that the capture of the two men was "a clear signal" that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is going to do anything but end the war."

In addition, reports of North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops first surfaced last fall.

On March 27, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed that Pyongyang had sent an additional 3,000 troops to Russia in early 2025, bringing the total number of North Korean soldiers deployed to more than 14,000, according to CNN.

This development coincides with comments from Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who confirmed that preparations are under way for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia.

Analysts warn that integrating such diverse, potentially undisciplined forces could undermine the cohesion and effectiveness of Russian military operations.

"Moscow is running out of options. Heavy losses in Ukraine and a dwindling pool of willing volunteers have left Russia increasingly dependent on foreign fighters and convicted criminals," a European diplomat in Islamabad, who previously was posted in Ukraine, told Global Watch. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"But poorly trained criminals and foreign recruits can't replace the professional soldiers Russia needs to sustain a modern war," he added.