Russian Z-blogger Anastasia Kashevarova has reported cases of individuals with serious illnesses and signs of disability being recruited into the Russian army.
In a Telegram post on Monday, she described two recently contracted soldiers who showed signs of “chronic encephalopathy due to long-term alcohol abuse and an antisocial lifestyle.”
According to her, both men joined the military about ten days ago and were unable to explain where or under what circumstances they had signed their contracts.
“They can barely walk, they urinate and defecate on themselves in their dugouts, and stink. Since they’re already at the base, their commanders are sending them to the training ground,” Kashevarova wrote, adding that “other soldiers are forced to literally carry them.”
She said such cases are not isolated and linked them to so-called “black recruiters” – intermediaries who allegedly recruit people with addictions and serious illnesses, including HIV and hepatitis, sometimes while intoxicated, in order to collect signing bonuses.
While formal medical checks may not reveal acute conditions, she said many recruits suffer from severe chronic health issues.
Kashevarova attributed the practice to regional recruitment targets focused on the number of signed contracts rather than the actual fitness of recruits.
At the same time, she placed the blame on rear officials, claiming they were ordered to meet quotas, while largely absolving Russia’s Defense Ministry of responsibility.
Desperate recruitment measures
Data cited by The Moscow Times outlet suggests broader recruitment problems. Despite claims by Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev that more than 422,000 people signed contracts in 2025, independent estimates are significantly lower.
Janis Kluge, a research fellow at the Institute for International Security Studies, estimates average monthly recruitment in 2025 at around 30,000, based on budget data – significantly lower than Medvedev’s claims.
Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, offers a similar estimate of 30,000-35,000 recruits per month, adding that this level only offsets losses and does not allow for force expansion.
The decline in recruitment is particularly evident in Moscow. According to the outlet Verstka, 24,469 people from the capital are expected to be sent to the front in 2025 – 25% fewer than the previous year. In December, only 879 people signed contracts, compared to nearly 2,000 in 2024.
Sources in the mayor’s office say recruitment targets are not being met and the quality of recruits is deteriorating: more men over 55 are applying, while the number of rejections has dropped threefold. According to these sources, only individuals registered with mental health or drug treatment centers, those with HIV, and those accused of serious crimes are being screened out.
A source in the presidential administration acknowledged that the shortfall is nationwide and that actual recruitment figures are lower than those cited by Medvedev.
Meanwhile, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky said on March 13 that Russian losses have exceeded new recruitment for three consecutive months.
The Kremlin has no intention of halting offensive operations, despite suffering significant battlefield losses, he said in a Facebook post.
The exact number of Russian and Ukrainian casualties remains unknown.
According to NATO, Russia has suffered at least 1.15 million killed and wounded in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, with average daily losses reaching 1,100 in November 2025.
A joint investigation by BBC Russian Service and Mediazona estimated verified Russian deaths in Ukraine at 200,186 as of Feb. 25.
Brutal conditions
These reports add to growing evidence of the Russian authorities’ harsh treatment of their own military personnel.
For instance, Russian soldiers are complaining of starvation on the front lines in Ukraine, according to an intercepted phone call released by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) in early February.
“Military intelligence has received further confirmation of the collapse of the Russian army’s logistics system: infantry units have been left without proper food and supplies for a long time,” the HUR said in a statement.
In the call, a soldier says they have nothing to eat or drink, adding his uniform now “hangs like a hanger” due to extreme weight loss.
Ukrainian officials say such issues are not new. In March 2025, Third Assault Brigade spokesman Oleksandr Borodin said Russian forces in the Kharkiv direction were facing severe shortages, adding commanders were aware and accepted the losses as part of their calculations.
In early December 2025, reports emerged that Russian soldiers who refused to fight - so-called “refusniks” - were being held for months in a basement in Melekino, near Russian-occupied Mariupol.
Independent outlet Astra, citing sources, said a soldier identified as “Yegor Kharin” arrived in Melekino in June 2025 and was immediately taken to the basement of an abandoned construction site.
“Darkness, gloom, no air, damp, cardboard boxes, pallets, bottles,” Kharin said, describing the conditions. According to him, some soldiers had been held there for eight months or even a year. “Those who left their unit without leave (AWOL), deserters, and non-deserters - they put all them there,” he added.
Another soldier, “Yuri Chiplakov,” said that at one point 98 people were crammed into the basement, forced to sleep in shifts.
“It always stinks terribly there… They keep you like cattle, or worse,” said a third soldier, “Stanislav Kozlovsky,” who added that some detainees were mentally ill or disabled and had never passed a military medical exam.
Kozlovsky also said that during his time there, dozens of detainees agreed to join assault operations, but claimed none survived.
The basement is located just 300 meters from a functioning sanatorium. Detainees were reportedly allowed to use the restroom only once a day, and only when tourists could not see them.
Similar reports have surfaced elsewhere. In 2024, Russian milblogger Yegor Guzenko published footage from a basement in the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic,” showing wounded soldiers held in dire conditions. “This is how [the soldiers] live… Those who are no longer needed are hidden from everyone in pigsties,” he said.
Astra also released video from a basement in Rozsipne, in the occupied Luhansk region, where soldiers who refused to fight were held in darkness, sleeping on wooden boards or concrete and using plastic bottles as toilets.