Russia ramps up recruitment ads after Ukrainian offensive
"The Russian authorities have launched an unprecedented advertising campaign for contract services following the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region," reports the agency Agenstwo.Nowosi. An analysis shows that this is the largest advertising campaign since the beginning of the war, encouraging people to join the army.
The agency notes that the intensity of the campaign increased after the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region and the acceleration of the Russian army's attack in the Donetsk region. "In both operations, Russia must acquire new military personnel," it reads.
Unprecedented Kremlin action
Advertising posts appear on Telegram, Yandex, VKontakte, and other federal channels. On Telegram alone, the posts have been displayed 13.5 million times in the past month, while the average since the launch of the Russian army's recruitment service was only 2.3 million per month.
The previous record for both the number of views and mentions was in May 2023, when the assault on Bakhmut ended.
"Usually, the main 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. 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.
Also, the channel of leading 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—in the previous two years, there were only 10 such announcements.
In August, regional Russian authorities began increasingly using Yandex's social advertising service to promote the war. The Moscow City Hall ordered such advertisements for the first time, reaching 500,000 users. The advertisement emphasized a one-time payment of approximately $34,000 CAD and an annual income of approximately $78,000 CAD.
Thousands of ads and commercials in Russia
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development orders nationwide advertising of the contract service on this platform. From January to September, its advertisements reached 328 million users. The maximum monthly reach of advertisements 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 have begun appearing on the accounts of schools and kindergartens in St. Petersburg.
Media are also involved in the campaign. "Calls to war became more active in propaganda talk shows on federal channels. In programs on Channel One, they started showing commercial blocks calling for an agreement with the Ministry of Defence—unlike other commercial blocks, these are also left in the recordings of broadcasts on the channel's website. Military correspondent Semyon Pegov, who films reports from Ukraine for the program, speaks in the material about the benefits of military service," the agency writes.
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" related to the invasion of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
Putin needs "cannon fodder"
The agency believes that such intensive advertising campaigns may indicate problems in recruiting new military personnel for the war in Ukraine. In July, the authorities effectively admitted that the rate of new military personnel recruitment had fallen by 30 percent. At the end of the month, Vladimir Putin raised the "payment" for going to war; in the poorest regions, the amount increased by 400 percent.
