Who enlists in the Russian army - and, by implication, goes to fight in Ukraine - is a patriot and a real man, with sound moral principles, is a positive alternative to poverty, depression and vodka.
And his social status, his morale, his finances and his sex appeal benefit from it.
This is the range of messages contained in a series of propaganda videos circulated in Russia on social media and reported today by CNN.
Messages, recalls the US broadcaster, in contradiction with the reassurances of the Kremlin, which denies having a shortage of soldiers on the Ukrainian front.
In one of these commercials we see a young man who decides to enlist instead of having fun at parties with his friends
and then shows up, some time later, with a big car that he could buy thanks to the money he earned under contract in the army.
In another, complementary, a discouraged and sad boy at being left by his fiancée enlists and, coincidentally, wins back the heart of her beloved.
Social redemption is the theme of another video, in which the army gives the coveted well-being and raises the morale of a middle-aged man who feels sentenced to life in a factory job that cancels out his economic and life.
But
it also leverages the civic and patriotic sense
, in an attempt to counter the tendency to flee abroad, as in the video in which an elderly woman spills her shopping: in front of her are two men, one in his thirties who gets into a beautiful car that denotes ease and says he wants to go "to Georgia, forever";
the other, younger, who instead with a smile helps the woman to recover the products scattered on the ground.
"The boys leave, the men stay," comments the old lady.
After declaring the "partial" mobilization of 300 people in September to fight in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said in a meeting in November with some mothers of those young people that it would have been better to die fighting for the country than to drink vodka to death.
In recent days, moreover,
the president assured that there are no plans for new mobilisations.
The exact number of Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine has never been made official, but the Ukrainian Defense Ministry now puts the figure at more than 98,200.
Meanwhile, today the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General
Sergei Shoigu, went to Ukraine to visit the troops engaged on the front line
.
The Tax reports it.
“The minister made a business trip to the Southern Military District and inspected the group of troops in the special military operation areas,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that “at the front line Shoigu spoke with the Russian military and thanked the personnel for the exemplary performance of combat missions".
Russian troops bombed the Ukrainian city of Kherson again today
, with a provisional toll of at least three people injured.
This was reported by the deputy head of the office of the president Kyrylo Tymoshenko, according to Ukrinform.
"The city center of Kherson was hit again. Three people were injured. They received shrapnel wounds and one of them is in serious condition," he said.
Yesterday Kherson was at the center of heavy Russian raids with at least four civilians killed and nine injured.
The city has been bombed 54 times.
The war in Ukraine won't end until next summer. This was claimed by Oleksiy Arestovych
, adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, who spoke - as reported by the UNIAN agency - on the "Feygin Live" broadcast.
"It can be qualified as a prolonged conflict - he added - that is, lasting from one and a half to two years. Nobody likes a prolonged conflict and it is partially dangerous. Even Sun Tzu said that war likes speed and dislikes procrastination".
According to the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine Major General Kyryl Budanov, the fighting in Ukraine is expected to end by the summer of 2023.
On the Russian side, the governor of
Belgorod
, on the border with Ukraine, said shelling by Kiev forces had hit the Russian region, killing one civilian.
The Tax reports it.
"Our air defense system was activated over the city of Belgorod and the region," said Vyacheslav Gladkov, who initially spoke of "at least four wounded" being taken to hospital.