How students are recruited into “unmanned troops”

Since the end of last year, there has been an active campaign in Russian universities to recruit students for the war with Ukraine. It has already changed several stages: first, students from top technical universities were recruited to serve in the disembodied troops, then those lagging behind on the verge of expulsion were recruited. Now everyone is called.

At the moment, almost 200 universities and colleges throughout Russia are known to be recruiting students; Some even have recruiting quotas.

An anonymous source sent an audio recording of such agitation at the University of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic to the editors of Important Stories. The recording shows attempts to present contract service as a good alternative to “fixed-term” service, guarantees that the service will last no more than a year and away from the front line, promises of financial and social privileges.

We were able to verify the authenticity of the recording, but we are not publishing it or naming the university at the request of the source and for security reasons.

“The service will last for seven and a half months”

The agitator from the Ministry of Defense is called Sergei Vyugin. Before the start of the war, he served in the GRU regiment in Stavropol. In 2022, he “carried out tasks of a different nature” in the Kherson region, and was almost immediately wounded. As a new place of service, he was offered a selection point for military service in Cherkessk.

“I am happy to help the guys who are ready to defend their homeland. There is a large flow of people wishing to sign a contract in Cherkessk,” said Vyugin.

At the beginning of his speech, Vyugin explains that he is currently “working with students about conscription for military service under a contract in units of unmanned hardware systems.” We found many reports about similar events with Vyugin’s participation on the websites of universities and colleges in the region.

The entire presentation lasted less than 10 minutes. During this time, Vyugin managed to list the advantages of serving in the “UAV troops”: two million rubles for concluding a contract, salary - from 210 to 500 thousand rubles, additional payments for damaged equipment, a veteran’s certificate of a member of the Northern Military District with a lifetime pension, free treatment, including in sanatoriums.

Vyugin paid special attention to the opportunity to receive housing from the state: “You serve, choose housing for yourself, and purchase it. While you serve, the state pays for you. Ultimately, you will own this property.”

Twice during his presentation, Vyugin repeated that students were being asked to enter into a “special contract for a period of one year”: “This should not be confused with the regular contract that the ground forces are considering in the main direction. That is, we signed a contract for a year. Out of this year, you have two to three months of preparation: they train you, they work with you. Three months of study plus the status of a combat veteran gives another 15 days of vacation plus the main vacation. Each serviceman is entitled to 30 days of vacation per year, that is, 45 days of vacation, three months of study. It turns out that the service will take seven and a half months.”

According to the military man, such a short service in unmanned forces, while guaranteeing all the privileges and social guarantees of “SVO participants” who have entered into a regular contract with the Ministry of Defense, “is a good alternative to military service.”

“After a year, dismissal is guaranteed,” Vyugin repeated again at the end of his presentation.

How is it really

There is no “special contract for a period of one year” for military personnel of the troops of unmanned systems (UBS), according to experts from the human rights group “Citizen. Army. Right". “We are all inclined to believe that students are offered to enter into a regular contract with the Ministry of Defense, and then dismissal is impossible,” says the director of the organization, Sergei Krivenko. The presidential decree announcing partial mobilization directly prohibits the termination of contracts with the Ministry of Defense before the end of mobilization - that is, making them essentially indefinite.

At the same time, the contract with students may indeed have a validity period of one year, notes Krivenko: “But in fact this is a lie, because you cannot quit.”

The director of the “Conscript School” Alexey Tabalov says the same thing: “There are no contracts for one year. That is, formally they exist, but it is impossible to terminate them... There is Putin’s decree on unlimited contracts. How can you exempt something from the scope of the decree if it applies to all contracts?”

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In addition, signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense does not guarantee entry into certain troops, as the agitators promise. Students' abilities will be assessed during training. “Maybe one in 20 will end up being suitable [for flying a UAV]. And the rest, since they have already signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and become military personnel, can be sent anywhere, including to assault units,” says Krivenko.

Krivenko also has questions about other promises. For example, military personnel are indeed officially entitled to leave, but the commander decides on the spot whether to go on leave or not. And housing from the state in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic is issued only to needy military veterans.

A salary of 210–500 thousand rubles is “also a big temptation,” the human rights activist adds. “An additional payment to the basic payment for a contract, which can be 45–70 thousand rubles, is awarded for participation in hostilities. They [the agitators] voice the maximum amount that is possible, provided that the military man participated in hostilities all 30 days a month. But in the end, there may be one or two days, and that’s only if everything is formalized correctly,” notes Krivenko.

In addition, during his speech to students, Vyugin calls the place of service “the city of Rostov” (apparently, meaning Rostov-on-Don). As “Layout” wrote , agitators at universities often promise students service “safely away from the front line,” which is also a deception. “Since they send drones, then they can send drones to them. Drones are flying everywhere now,” recalls Sergei Krivenko.