THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Times tracked several months of Russian state messaging in the Kremlin’s effort to recruit soldiers.
A supermarket security guard, a taxi driver, a guy at the gym. The Russian government has a message for all of them: Aren’t you a man?
And don’t you want to earn more money?
Last spring, the Russian military kicked off a new recruitment drive for the war in Ukraine, seeking to replace tens of thousands of dead and wounded without having to resort to an unpopular draft. For the last four months, The New York Times has tracked how the campaign played out on Russian state television and social media, and found that recruitment messages focused on the Kremlin’s official rationale for the invasion — an existential threat from the West against Russians — played only a supporting role.
Rather, there were frequent appeals to masculinity, sometimes voiced by soldiers’ wives and other women interviewed on television news. There were incessant reminders of above-average pay and benefits for military servicemen. And the messages — appearing both in video ads produced by the Defense Ministry and on regular TV newscasts — stress the ease of signing up, promising relief from Russia’s notorious bureaucracy. » | Anton Troianovski, Alina Lobzina, Sarah Kerr and Natalie Reneau | Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Poofs need not apply. Only real men kill. – © Mark Alexander
