German media Spiegel explores Russian methods of recruiting new soldiers while avoiding general mobilization. As Putin’s troops are suffering heavy losses in Ukraine, and a big part of the Russian armed forces is involved in the offensive, they need the ongoing flow of fresh blood. As general mobilization would be an acknowledgment of the weakness of the Russian army, the military chiefs are organizing “covert mobilization” to recruit enough soldiers. In many cases, the drafting facilities are issuing mass summonses to reservists that are easily misinterpreted as draft orders. To recruit more fighters, the Russian parliament even used the fast-track procedure to increase the age limit for first-time contractors from 40 to 65 years. The promised salary starts from around 3,000 euros per month, and in case of death, the contractors’ families are to be paid about 190,000 euros. Such conditions seem attractive to many men, especially in the regions. A reserve sergeant Mikhail from Nizhny Novgorod Spiegel talked to described this as “The cannon fodder even goes to the recruiting offices.” Another strategy the Russian army uses is forcing the conscripts to sign professional soldiers’ contracts after three months of training. The “covert mobilization,” writes the outlet, is particularly intense in Buryatia, one of the poorest regions in Russia. Those who are not motivated by money or the opportunity for revenge are threatened with a war tribunal, which is absurd from a legal perspective.
Forbes talked with Dan Yergin, the energy expert and Pulitzer-prize winner, about his perspective on global events around Russia, Ukraine, and oil and natural gas geopolitics. Yergin believes the global price increase results from several years’ decisions, not the immediate impact of the latest events. The global energy crisis was coming well before Russia invaded Ukraine. Yergin is concerned that Biden’s administration might pursue “panicky policies” like a ban on petroleum exports that Europe depends on now. A potential limit on natural gas export would challenge the western unity, which Putin hopes for. The degree of Russian exclusion from the global economy would increase the country’s dependency on China. When Yergin wrote his book “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations” in 2020, he wrote Ukraine was the issue that was going to blow up between Russia and the U.S. however, he says he couldn’t have imagined the war going on for so long, and he believes Putin has severely miscalculated as he had hoped to install a puppet regime in Kyiv and transform Ukraine into a Russian satellite in 4 days.
The 3-D printing community aiding Ukraine is the topic of a recent piece in the Washington Post. The outlet talked to Jakub Kaminsky, a robotics engineering graduate student from Boston who recruited volunteers to design and test tourniquets that were in short supply in the first months of the war in Ukraine. The group tested eight versions of tourniquets until making one durable enough for tactical medicine needs. They then uploaded the design to the internet, where around 120 individuals and companies downloaded it to produce roughly 5,000 reusable tourniquets for Ukraine. According to Mykhailo Shulhan, the chief operating officer of a Ukrainian 3D-printing company in Lviv, now different things are in short supply – namely weapons components and accessories. His company, 3D Tech Addtive, designs and prints AK047 holsters, bullet magazines, carrying bags for grenades, and anti-reflective lenses for sniper scopes. Previously located in ravaged Ukraine, the printing filament suppliers have shifted to the countryʼs western areas and resumed sufficient supply. The biggest challenge for the 3D printing community in Ukraine now, says Shulhan, is difficulties in getting spare parts for 3D printers, which mainly come from China.