Does Russia have enough soldiers for war?

What does Russia’s digital draft mean for war? A spring offensive is looming in the war in Ukraine. Russia has already set in place greater restrictions on draft dodgers – suggesting that Russia may be preparing to launch another mass conscription order if it is not able to find enough volunteers. Earlier, conscripts had to be approached in person in order to be drafted, leading to videos of attempted draft dodgers being dragged unwillingly to enlistment. Now, the only thing standing between potential Russian military conscripts and war is an electronic message on a portal that has become a major part of Russia’s digital infrastructure.

In this episode: 

• Maria Kuznetsova (@maria_de_forest) Spokesperson, OVDInfo (@OvdInfo_en)

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei, Sonia Bhagat and Khaled Soltan with our host, Malika Bilal. Khaled Soltan fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. 

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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