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🇦🇹 Austria /Conflict & Security

Russia Recruits Soldiers for the Ukraine War Even in the EU

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The European External Action Service warned that Russia is using social media, gaming platforms and fake recruitment websites to lure people into military service.
  • The campaign targets migrants in the European Union and audiences in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia with misleading job offers.
  • The recruitment effort reflects Russia’s difficulty replacing military personnel without ordering another unpopular mobilization before parliamentary elections.

Russia is recruiting soldiers for its war in Ukraine through social media and gaming platforms, offering well-paid work that can lead applicants to the battlefield.

The campaign comes as Russia faces a shortage of military personnel. President Vladimir Putin wants to increase attacks against Ukraine, but another mobilization before parliamentary elections at the end of September would be deeply unpopular after the war’s long duration and heavy Russian losses. Hundreds of thousands of young men fled Russia during the 2022 partial mobilization, forcing authorities to stop compulsory recruitment.

The supply of replacements from volunteers, convicts and North Koreans is also slowly drying up, according to the report. The European External Action Service has warned of a coordinated online campaign that uses deception to attract young men, including migrants living in the EU.

AI-generated recruitment posters are disguised as ordinary job advertisements and reveal their military character only after being clicked. French- and Spanish-language advertisements direct users to professionally designed landing pages operated by third parties.

· European External Action ServiceThe warning describes how Russia’s online recruitment campaign hides military offers behind civilian employment advertising.

Recruitment advertisements generated with artificial intelligence are disguised as ordinary job listings. Their military nature becomes clear only after users click through. French- and Spanish-language advertisements send users to professionally designed pages operated by third parties. Other recruitment efforts use Facebook pages posing as reputable employment agencies, as well as Discord and gaming applications.

The network reportedly recruited 28,000 people in 135 countries last year. Its focus shifted toward African audiences in June, Latin Americans in July, including Venezuelan communities in the EU, and later Southeast Asia. European investigators found recruitment advertisements on Meta and WhatsApp and on 35 websites using as many as 40 languages. Austrian intelligence sources said Austria did not appear to be affected for now, while cautioning that the entire digital network could not be monitored.

We cannot oversee the entire digital network.

· Austrian intelligence sourcesThe sources said Austria did not appear to be affected for now but acknowledged limits to their visibility.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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