Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of another 133,000 soldiers to aid his war in Ukraine.
The 18-to-30 year olds will be called up between tomorrow and December 31, but parents have raised fear that the untrained conscripts will be thrust straight into ‘hot’ border regions close to the war zone.
The figure is higher than the same draft last year when Putin recruited 130,000, and in spring when he drafted another 150,000.
The Russian regime is facing an increasing backlash over use of conscripts close to the war zone in defiance of an earlier Putin promise to parents that he would not put recruits in harm’s way.
This is mainly a byproduct of transitioning to a war time economy. Before the mobilization they had a fairly large labour glut, now that they’ve geared to war time production they’re having labor shortages.
The detrimental aspect to this transition is that they’re going to have to rely on conscripts for their soldiers as they were already experiencing a really harsh population decline.
The most dangerous part of this whole war won’t come for Russia until the war ends, regardless of victory or defeat. Their population decline coupled with the retooling of their domestic economy isn’t something that can be undone without major consequences. So they’re either going to have to continue the war footing to maintain their economy, or face an economic collapse similar in scope to the USSR.
Their economy is collapsing already, it’s just not a quick collapse, but it’s definitely already happening. National bank increased interest rate from 16 to 19% in a month, and the Ruble is still declining.
The economy is also declining, while at the same time overheating. (for instance worker shortage as you mention) The Russian economy cannot handle the strain of the war, and they can’t keep the economy up by being at war.
Unfortunately, the collapse is very slow. Their national wealth fund is currently their bread basket, and that is maintained by their energy exports. With the price of oil being so high, they should be able to sustain their current economy for a couple years at least. There will be shortages, especially in areas where they were reliant on imports.
However, from what I’ve read, oil would have to drop to around $60 a barrel to spur an economic collapse swift and bad enough to make the war unsustainable. That or the EU and US would actually have to militaristically enforce the energy embargo.
That’s how these types of collapses work though.
Everything just barely holds together and then the literally straw that breaks the camel’s back hits and then it all goes to shit in an instant.
They’re keeping it together but at what cost? We can clearly see the social and demographic cost that will hit in a decade, we can see the economic costs hitting but how long till that manifests into something they can’t policy their way out of is a big question.
Russia is spending its future, both economically and demographically, and can’t avoid the consequences. But will those consequences hit them in time to help Ukraine?
Even if they are able to grind down Ukraine, can they really be hoping the Ukrainian economy will help Russia rebuild, after its bombed to hell and back?