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Dr Jenny Mathers, Adran Gwleidyddiaeth Ryngwladol

Mewn erthygl yn The Conversation, mae Dr Jenny Mathers o'r Adran Gwleidyddiaeth Ryngwladol yn esbonio bod angen tua 400,000 yn fwy o weithwyr ar ddiwydiant amddiffyn Rwsia nag y mae'n eu cyflogi ar hyn o bryd.

US president Donald Trump has said Ukraine could win back all of the territory it has lost in the ongoing war, but Russia’s president Vladimir Putin shows no signs of wanting a peace deal, or reducing the military offensive.

Instead, night after night Russia continues to launch hundreds of , killing civilians and destroying homes, .

Russia can only continue this war if it has enough workers. It has one of the world’s largest armed forces (composed of ), but its military recruiters face a challenging job in outpacing of soldiers who are killed or seriously injured in Ukraine.

However, the staffing needs of Russia’s military are tiny compared with its defence industry. Russian factories that produce weapons and equipment for the war employ approximately – and they have been suffering from a serious labour shortage.

According to made in the Russian parliament in 2024, the country’s defence industry needs approximately 400,000 more workers than it currently employs.

But how can Russia, with a population of have a labour shortage in a sector of the economy that is so crucial for the war?

There are a variety of reasons. An estimated fled Russia in 2022 – either because they opposed the war in principle or because they wanted to avoid being forced to join the military and fight – or both. Although of those who fled are believed to have returned to Russia over the past three years, that would mean Russia lost approximately 650,000 people from its workforce, at least for the duration of the war and perhaps permanently.

Russia’s defence industry is also in direct competition with the army for workers. The Russian state has substantially increased the salaries and various benefits that it offers to new military recruits. – more than US$2,000 (£1,481) – a month are typical, putting combat soldiers in the top 10% of Russia’s earners.

The defence industry has had to raise the wages it offers during the war, increasing average salaries by 65% between 2022 and 2024, . New recruits to the military, however, can expect a one-off signing bonus of as much as in addition to their monthly salary.

Declining birth rate

Demographic patterns also play a part. There was , which means there are fewer people in their 20s and 30s seeking employment.

The defence industry has introduced a number of initiatives since the start of Russia’s mass invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to cope with the increased demand for the production of new weapons and equipment along with the need to repair damaged and broken military hardware.

Many facilities are : introducing compulsory 12-hour shifts and work weeks of six days on, one day off. Other parts of the defence industry are reportedly , including , which is Russia’s largest manufacturer of tanks.

Russia has turned to to fill some of its military and labour shortages. Thousands of Koreans have been sent to Russia to work in factories and in construction, as part of a deal between Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. There have been of “slave labour” conditions and 18-hour days. North Koreans have also been sent to bolster the .

Attitudes to women

Despite all the shortages, the military industry is not recruiting Russia’s women to work in most roles. Although some Russian women do work in defence industry, labour regulations introduced in the 1970s exclude women from many roles that are , such as working with hazardous chemicals or heavy metals.

These restrictions are designed to protect pregnant women and the . Considering Putin’s emphasis on and on presenting Russia as a bastion of traditional gender roles, this is unlikely to change.

However, the reluctance to recruit Russian women into jobs in the defence industry does not extend to women from other countries. , mainly from central and west Africa, have been hired to work in defence industry factories located in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, a Russian republic located east of Moscow. Many of these factories build drones assembled from components imported from Iran – weapons that have been used extensively by Russia in its attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

The African women employed to build drones in Tatarstan were recruited through a programme called , which targets young .

It is advertised extensively on social media, including through paid influencers on TikTok. The salaries offered are high in relation to the wages that these women could earn in their own countries. However, Alabuga Start recruits earn around 40,000 roubles a month – less than half the amount that Russian defence industry workers receive.

on recruiting foreign women for a mix of practical, financial reasons and gender stereotypes. African women will work for less money than Russians. They are also than foreign men, while women are perceived to be better than men at tasks .

The appears to offer an attractive package of work experience, on-the-job training, accommodation, Russian language lessons and free flights to Russia. The sectors for employment identified include catering, hospitality and service jobs with no mention of drone assembly.

However, once they arrive, the young women can find themselves living very different lives to those they had anticipated. There are reports of working long hours and exposure to dangerous chemicals, with passports being withheld to . For instance, has launched an investigation into Alabuga Start, which may see the programme shut down in that country.

The difficulties of recruiting and retaining labour for Russia’s defence industry, including bringing in foreign migrant workers and their treatment, reveal some serious weaknesses in Moscow’s military planning. While those are probably not enough to stop Russia’s war effort, they do indicate some of the strains that the war is placing on the country’s economy.

Mae'r erthygl hon wedi ei hailgyhoeddi o  dan drwydded Creative Commons. .

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