“We must go and defend the homeland…” For Alexandre and Piotr, the rest of the“special military operation” of the Kremlin in Ukraine is discussed… at the top of an Escalator, in the metro. It is in one of the most unexpected places in Moscow that these two young men, who wish to remain anonymous, quickly exchange information on the new wave of mobilization launched this fall to attract, with great force, advertising in the streets of the capital, volunteers for the front.
Recruitment information centers are now small stands set up at the entrance to the main metro stations, such as in… Kievskaya, the station bearing the name of the Ukrainian capital. It is there, between escalators and turnstiles, that Alexandre, seated behind a table covered with leaflets in glossy green and blue army paper, answers the questions of Piotr, standing, a passenger in transit, a solid fellow with determined eyes , but not very talkative. The exchange between the two debonair-looking thirty-somethings lasts barely a minute. The first fulfilled its information mission. The second leaves with, in hand, the promise of incredible income: he will be able to earn 5.2 million rubles in one year, or more than 50,000 euros.
“They are involved both out of patriotism and for the money! »recognizes Alexandre with a broad ironic smile. He and dozens of other metro employees take turns all day in teams of two behind these recruitment tables. “The metro is the city. And the city is the State. We are all mobilized for victory”he assures between two remarks on the “kyiv fascist regime” hiring “French mercenaries” to help NATO against Russia. In a few words, in the middle of the crowd, the elements of the narrative repeated for two and a half years by the Kremlin and its various propaganda outlets (television, school, theater and now… metro) are linked together.
The prospectus, like the posters stuck up all over the city, on benches at the exit of stations, but also at the entrance to stores and at the bottom of buildings, details the promised salaries and bonuses, co-financed by the ministry. of Defense and Moscow City Hall: 2.3 million rubles at the time of signing, then a monthly salary of at least 260,000 rubles. According to the Bloomberg agency, annual military spending will increase by 25% in 2025 to represent 40% of total state spending, or 6.2% of gross domestic product, a record since the post-Soviet period.
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Source: Lemonde
