LAST RESORT

Putin’s Desperate Hunt for Recruits Hits Sickening New Low

The Russian tyrant is feeding the sick and the drunk into his war machine.

Vladimir Putin is resorting to desperate measures as Russian recruiters prey on the sick to fight his disastrous war in Ukraine.

Lawyers and human rights groups have said Moscow is using increasingly deceptive and coercive measures to recruit vulnerable men to serve on the front line, according to CNN.

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Many of those targeted are drowning in debt or suffering from alcoholism and other health issues.

“They simply do not have a chance to say no, simply do not know their rights,” Artem Klyga, a Berlin-based Russian military attorney, told the network on Monday.

One man in his late 50s, who could barely walk due to vascular problems and alcoholism, was approached outside his apartment in a western Russian town by several unidentified men in July.

The men tricked him into signing what he thought was paperwork acknowledging their visit. Instead, he had unwittingly agreed to enlist, according to his family.

He briefly returned home before disappearing, later contacting his family from a training facility in Russian-occupied Ukraine. He was reported missing in action in late September.

Another family described how their relative was taken away while drunk in July. CNN obtained footage that showed his devastated mother bidding him farewell before he climbed into a van.

Military prosecutors insisted he had enlisted voluntarily when his relatives appealed for his release. Within weeks, he too was missing on the battlefield.

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The sinister recruitment methods analyzed by CNN seem designed to help Putin, 74, replenish his battered forces in Ukraine without ordering another politically disastrous nationwide mobilization.

His previous mass call-up in 2022 triggered widespread panic, sending hundreds of thousands of Russians fleeing abroad to escape conscription.

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Moscow has since relied heavily on enormous financial incentives to attract volunteers. But mounting casualties and dwindling recruitment have intensified the pressure to find fresh troops.

Military lawyers now warn that Russia is effectively conducting a covert, piecemeal mobilization rather than risking another explosive public backlash.

Videos have emerged of distressed relatives confronting recruitment officials in the Penza region, roughly 375 miles south of Moscow.

One recording authenticated by CNN shows women demanding that men aboard a bus be released. A passenger apparently indicates he had not willingly enlisted, though Russian authorities have rejected allegations of forced recruitment there.

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There are also now financial rewards for finding fresh cannon fodder, which critics say have effectively turned recruiters into “bounty hunters.”

Officials in the southwestern Ryazan region have offered payments ranging from approximately $590 to $3,500 for every successful enlistment. CNN uncovered similar incentives elsewhere, though it could not establish whether they drove the alleged abductions.

The revelations come as Putin enjoys an increasingly accommodating relationship with Donald Trump, 80, whose administration has heaped pressure on Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war.

Trump announced a shock deal earlier this month to purchase roughly 2 million tons of diesel from Russia in a bid to lower domestic prices driven up by his own war with Iran.

Voter fury over sky-high fuel costs and runaway inflation, sparked by that conflict, has helped Democrats gain a 9-point lead ahead of the Nov. 3 battle for control of the House and Senate.

The U.S. president has also faced accusations of restricting vital intelligence and satellite services to Kyiv, though Washington has disputed many of those claims.

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