A TV report in Russia about the mobilization of recruits to participate in a “special military operation” left “speechless”, including journalist Francis Scarr, one of the most famous Russian media commentators and analysts.

The BBC journalist notes on his Twitter page that “to be honest, I am at a loss for words”, referring to the mass wedding ceremony in St. Petersburg shown in the report of the local St. Petersburg TV channel.

“According to this local television report, mobilization for the war in Ukraine is now considered a legitimate reason to speed up the marriage registration process,” he states.

Kamil Galeyev, a prominent Russian researcher at the Wilson Center in Washington, ironically notes on Twitter that “smart girls get married.”

“Essentially, recruits are not trained, so it should be a quick return on investment. You get married, he dies in battle, you get compensation, I repeat (?),” he wrote on his page Twitter with a link to the video report.

Galeev says the scheme has already boosted property prices in some small Russian towns after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” on February 24.

“Asymmetric” mobilization in Russia

Galeyev’s comments come in the context of a researcher explaining last month that the “partial” mobilization approved by the Kremlin leader on September 21 is “asymmetrical”: it does appear to be partial in some large cities, especially in western Russia, and general in regions of the Russian Far East and other poor regions of Russia.

This means that cities in regions where mobilization is common, but also registers a higher number of casualties on the fronts in Ukraine, receive more compensation from Moscow and regional authorities.

Russian investigative journalists have been showing since April that poor regions of Russia, such as Dagestan and Buryatia, record a disproportionately large number of soldiers killed during the war in Ukraine. Some soldiers from these regions who volunteered for Putin’s war said that low standards of living and debt were among the reasons that forced them to enlist.

Another report, aired by a Russian TV channel in July, went viral on social media showing “benefits” for Russians who lose their sons to the war in Ukraine, including that they can buy a new Lada car with “coffin money”. a colloquial term used by Russians for compensation given to families.

In Tuva, the homeland of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the regional authorities decided to give a sheep, two sacks of potatoes, flour and cabbage to the families of conscripts who were accepted after the mobilization decree last month.

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