Omsk Begins Detaining Men to Replenish Russian Army

In the Russian city of Omsk, security forces have begun detaining men on the streets and taking them to military recruitment centers.

This was reported by the Omsk Civil Association publication, citing relatives of those detained.

One such incident occurred in Omsk on August 8, where a 31-year-old man was detained after drinking beer on the street.

He was taken to the Sirius 55 recruitment center. According to his relatives, he was subjected to psychological pressure there, after which he signed a contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry.

The man’s relatives contacted the prosecutor’s office, but were asked to provide additional documents and resubmit their request.

Formally, raids involving police and military personnel may be justified as efforts to identify individuals violating military registration requirements. However, those detained are also offered or pressured into signing contracts.

According to representatives of the Idite Lesom human rights project, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Russian authorities to recruit volunteers for the war, prompting them to expand the practice of forced recruitment.

The methods include street detentions, visits by officials to people’s homes and workplaces, as well as recruiting debtors, people serving suspended sentences, and recently demobilized servicemen.

Such trends had been predicted earlier. Nearly a month ago, Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine reported that recruitment to the Russian army had slowed and that the shortfall in meeting the annual target for contract soldiers was growing.

According to economist Janis Kluge’s estimates, the total number of contracts signed this year is only slightly below last year’s figure.

At the same time, according to his data, the average amount spent by regions on signing bonuses has increased by approximately 30% compared to last year.

This suggests that recruiting volunteer contract soldiers has become increasingly difficult, which may be driving the expansion of other recruitment methods based on pressure and coercion.

Militarnyi has previously reported cases of men being forcibly detained on the streets in the city of Penza, Russia, for subsequent deployment to the war.