As a new wave of mobilization grows more likely in Russia, corrupt officials have reportedly begun offering a new paid service. In the province, the cost of the “loss” of the servicemen’s card file in the commissariat is 400,000 rubles, reports independent researcher Chris Owen.

In the Telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU, it is said that a “new unofficial service” has appeared: “Outside Moscow, the service of simply “losing” a file at the Military Commissariat costs about 400,000 rubles ($5,666). The price is higher in the capital.”

Russia’s military bureaucracy is still based on paper, which is why so many fires occurred in commissaries when people hoped to avoid mobilization by destroying the paper documents of conscription stations.

A 20-year-old resident of Nizhnyvartovsk, who threw bottles with an incendiary mixture at a military post, has just been sentenced to 12 years in prison, reports the state news agency TASS, citing the independent publication Meduza. This is the first sentence for such an offense.

However, it is unclear how effective this “record loss” scheme will be, given that the Russian government has made efforts to improve record-keeping to avoid the blunders and mismanagement that accompanied the first wave of recruitment.

Ukraine’s military intelligence said in early January that Russia had ordered the mobilization of up to 500,000 conscripts, compared to the 300,000 mobilized earlier.

Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine, said that Ukraine believes that the recruits will be involved in a series of Russian offensive operations in the spring and summer in the east and south of the country.

Russia denies it is preparing a second wave of mobilization, and last month Putin said it was “nonsense” to talk about a new draft, claiming that only half of those already mobilized had been sent to Ukraine.

Russian officials, including Putin, previously denied plans to order mobilization before finally announcing a “partial mobilization” in September.

Ukrainians expect Russia to mobilize more people than in the September campaign, which proved highly unpopular and sparked protests across Russia.

If the estimate turns out to be correct, Russia will almost double its pre-war strength in a few months.

The military intelligence of Ukraine stated that 280,000 Russian ground troops are currently deployed against Ukraine.

Russia is said to have been forced to send in airborne troops after Wagner’s group suffered heavy losses in men and weapons in Bakhmut, where Russian forces are trying to capture the town.

It is possible that a new mobilization will be ordered, especially after the West promised Ukraine modern tanks.

According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine expects “120 to 140” Western tanks to repel the Russian army, which has recently stepped up its offensive.

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