Most of them have enlisted out of their own free will. There are plenty of prisoners as well, but – at least to my understanding – they amount less than the people who enlisted for the money. Also, many of the enlisted prisoners are in it voluntarily because of money and amnesty. And many are simply forced to sign the “voluntary” contract by torturing them until they do.
What I’ve been surprised with is that as long as you are alive, you almost always do receive your salary as a Russian soldier. And your relatives will indeed receive their compensation – assuming there’s evidence of you dying. There almost never is, and then you’re marked as AWOL, not as dead. And if you’re AWOL, your family receives no compensation. Ukraine has huge refrigerated warehouses full of Russian soldiers waiting to be sent home, because when they eventually reach the Russia, that country will either go bankrupt or has to say “we changed our mind. Although you sent your son to our war for money, we’re not actually going to pay”, which will seriously destabilise the Russia.
This is indeed also why the Russia’s economy is such a very important factor here. There’s no way they’ll be able to fill the required 30 000 new soldiers per month with prisoners alone. They don’t have that many hundred thousands of prisoners available for that. Send too many and you will have prison revolts.
Most of them have enlisted out of their own free will. There are plenty of prisoners as well, but – at least to my understanding – they amount less than the people who enlisted for the money. Also, many of the enlisted prisoners are in it voluntarily because of money and amnesty. And many are simply forced to sign the “voluntary” contract by torturing them until they do.
What I’ve been surprised with is that as long as you are alive, you almost always do receive your salary as a Russian soldier. And your relatives will indeed receive their compensation – assuming there’s evidence of you dying. There almost never is, and then you’re marked as AWOL, not as dead. And if you’re AWOL, your family receives no compensation. Ukraine has huge refrigerated warehouses full of Russian soldiers waiting to be sent home, because when they eventually reach the Russia, that country will either go bankrupt or has to say “we changed our mind. Although you sent your son to our war for money, we’re not actually going to pay”, which will seriously destabilise the Russia.
This is indeed also why the Russia’s economy is such a very important factor here. There’s no way they’ll be able to fill the required 30 000 new soldiers per month with prisoners alone. They don’t have that many hundred thousands of prisoners available for that. Send too many and you will have prison revolts.