Hello and welcome to Regions Calling, your guide to developments beyond the Russian capital from The Moscow Times. Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s regions and ethnic republics have borne a disproportionate share of the burden in supplying manpower for the front lines. Military recruitment numbers became a key performance indicator for governors and heads of republics seeking to prove their efficiency and loyalty to the Kremlin. This competition has come at a great financial cost to the regions themselves. Local authorities have been forced to allocate ever-increasing amounts of their budgets to military payouts in an attempt to outbid their neighbors and attract potential recruits from other regions of Russia and even foreign countries. Earlier this month, however, at least three regions suddenly decreased the rewards offered for signing a military contract. In this edition of Regions Calling, we will look at the possible reasons behind this change and examine new trends in military recruitment strategies used by regions, as well as the latest data on Russia’s war losses. But first, here is what else happened in Russia’s regions over the past two weeks:
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Some 500 people gathered in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok to protest a government-man
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