Warum junge Russen sich weigern, Putins Drohneneinheiten beizutreten

Tech-savvy young Russians are refusing to enlist in [Vladimir Putin’s](https://inews.co.uk/topic/vladimir-putin?ico=in-line_link) “absurdly hopeless” drone units because they don’t trust their government not to send them to the front as cannon fodder.

What was meant to be a crack squad of young and highly skilled personnel operating a huge fleet of drones has turned into an undermanned and underskilled branch of the army.

The Russian military set up the Unmanned Systems Forces branch (*Voyska bespilotnykh sistem* or VBS) last November as a cutting-edge counter to [Kyiv’s agile drone fleet](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/ukraine-drone-killing-interceptors-turning-tide-against-putin-4393440?srsltid=AfmBOoo8Fy0lPJQnTsydAybwUGnvmxXDJMOTN37cu7ZAIYStVUJVD-T4&ico=in-line_link).

However, only [a quarter of the 34,400 personnel](https://www.kyivpost.com/post/80685) meant to be recruited for the drone units have actually materialised, according to analysis by the Russian opposition organisation Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT).

The failures come amid a growing realisation inside Russia [that the war is going badly](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/clearest-sign-yet-russians-losing-faith-putin-war-4655380?ico=in-line_link), with authorities struggling to replace monthly casualty rates [in the tens of thousands](https://www.csis.org/analysis/russian-blood-and-treasure-ballooning-costs-putins-war), and Ukrainian [drones crashing into oil refineries](https://inews.co.uk/news/ukraine-set-russia-ablaze-putins-humiliation-complete-4481787?ico=in-line_link), factories and logistics sites across the country.

# The Kremlin is trying to recruit students

Last November, the Russian defence minister, Andrei Belousov, announced that the drone force would try to recruit under-35s.

Since then, the Kremlin has been targeting students in hundreds of higher education institutions in its recruitment drives for the VBS, according to independent Russian youth-focused news source *Groza*.

Recruitment meetings cropped up across universities and technical colleges, and students were offered a one-year contract to serve in the drone unit.

In a report in April, *Groza* tallied 269 universities and colleges where students were being targeted by schemes promoting the “benefits” of training in the new branch.

Putin was pinning his hopes on Russia’s students – including those in annexed Ukrainian territories – to man his elite drone forces, because they had the skills necessary to be able to operate drones effectively.

More than 8,000 specialists had completed training in the first half of this year, according to Russian deputy defence minister Alexei Krivoruchko.

However, this is well short of targets, and far short of the numbers Russia needs to compete in the newest arena of warfare, even though units like the VBS are meant to be kept away from the front lines.

This is just the latest piece of evidence that the Kremlin is failing to mobilise enough new soldiers, according to Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “There are growing signs that this year Russia’s recruitment targets aren’t being met, even as Ukraine increases the number of Russians it kills on the battlefield. As that number rises, Russia’s capacity is declining. Most people who are very good at drone warfare are young and bright and they certainly don’t want to sign up,” he said.

Students don’t want to join because they “know the war is going badly”, he added.

# Students don’t trust their government

The Kremlin is failing to convince potential recruits that they will be safe even in roles meant to be kept safely away from the front lines, like the VBS.

This was due to widespread suspicion inside Russia that even those who are contracted as dedicated drone pilots could be reassigned to frontline units, said Samuel Bendett, an expert on Russian drones and adviser at the Centre for Naval Analyses in Washington DC.

“This has a lot to do with the Russian military’s bad practices of taking dedicated drone pilots and putting them into assault detachments, essentially sending these pilots to their deaths,” he said.

While the Russian defence ministry has taken steps to prevent such transfers, and recruitment officially states that operators will not be transferred to another position, Bendett said “there is now broken trust”.

“Young students are especially afraid of this – or of being kept in military service indefinitely, long past the contract.”

Gould-Davies added that this suspicion meant even the “enormous sums of money” offered by the Russian army were “no longer enough” for young graduates who could not see the sense in accepting such a dangerous offer.

# Drone recruits are ‘absurdly hopeless’

As a result of the shortages, these units – that were intended to be elite to match the extensive drone capabilities of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) – are made up of low-quality, hopeless recruits.

According to CIT, the few recruits the VSB has been able to gain are mostly men over the age of 50.

Gould-Davies said: “This is how the war is developing. It is now a war dominated by drones, and actually uncrewed vehicles of all kinds. It’s the operators that are really important.”

“It’s not just a matter of quantity, it’s also quality. The people coming to them are absurdly hopeless,” said Gould-Davies. “Their ability to actually fight is severely impaired for a range of reasons.”

He added: “The best people are saying absolutely no, and as it stands the Russian state isn’t forcing them to.”

Bendett said the VSB was created “with the sole purpose of organising Russian military’s unmanned, autonomous and robotic efforts and technologies into a single, dedicated system”.

The branch was intended to “standardise battlefield practices, concepts, tactics and technology development”.

But it was always following in the footsteps of the Ukrainian USF branch. Putin has been trying to play catch-up with Kyiv, and its efforts are showing signs of strain.

Bendett added while the Russians still “have the lead in the number of drones built and launched every month” for long-range strikes, Ukraine has gained the upper hand on mid-range capabilities.

However, as rumours swirl that another wave of mobilisation could be coming down the track later this year, soon some Russians may have little choice.

It is no secret that many Russians have been tricked already and ended up in meat assaults.

Many get lured with the role of drone op – only to then be put into a meat wave.

I mean that’s Russian army. There are tons of ways how you can be screwed. And a baseline drone pilot position is NOT a safe IT-alike role. You fly from a pretty trench-alike position that you first need to set up with your shovel, being the primary target. Your command are assholes who don’t care about you, who can easily extort money from you and do whatever to you.