Vladimir Putin has finally admitted that Russia has a major workforce shortage problem – but stopped short of explaining the obvious reason why.
The Russian president has been engaged in so-called “meat grinder” tactics on the frontline for months, sending poorly trained troops to battle in his ongoing bid to seize more Ukrainian land.
So it’s no surprise that after almost three years of war, Russia has “a workforce deficit problem,“as Putin told a meeting with young scientists on Monday.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, he said: “Our unemployment rate is minimal, it is not actually present – 2.7%.
“This is actually absence of unemployment; we have the workforce deficit problem.”
However, he added: “The problem can be solved through implementation of new technologies, including the artificial intelligence sphere.”
This shortage of workers makes sense, considering around 470,000 Russian troops were said to be in the occupied territories at the start of the year.
And Russian president has voiced ambitions to expand the armed forces to become the second largest army in the world, with 1.5 million active troops.
But, Putin has not enforced conscription among the Russian public – his failed bid to mobilise reservists in 2022 only pushed more people to flee the country.
He claims there are enough volunteers to fill the ranks, with 190,000 allegedly signing up to fight in the first seven months of this year – and 490,000 in 2023.
The Russian president has stayed pretty quiet about his high rate of casualties, though.
Last month, the UK’s ministry of defence claimed Russia had suffered more than 700,000 casualties since invading Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The MoD added: “Russia will highly likely continue to experience high casualty rates over the remainder of the year, with continued infantry attacks on multiple axes throughout winter.”
Prime minister Keir Starmer even accused Putin of treating his own citizens like “bits of meat to fling into the meat grinder” last month during his first speech to the United Nations security council in New York.
And, speaking in his first major foreign policy speech since becoming prime minister on Monday, Starmer declared Putin was “erratic and increasingly desperate” amid speculation of a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
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