A recent study by Janis Kluge, a research fellow at the German Institute for International Security Studies, identified a jump in Russian recruitment rates in March. His study was based on budget data from 37 Russian regions and the investigations of several independent journalists. Kluge puts the surge down to a combination of factors. The first factor is cash. He puts the huge increases offered by most regional governments down to pressure by the federal government to meet recruitment targets. In 2024, all regions of Russia increased their signing-on bonuses at least once in the year and others raised them again at the beginning of 2025. The next factor is that most recruiting offices have lowered, and in many cases totally ignored, the usual health and age restrictions for new recruits according to an investigation by Radio Free Europe’s “Sibir Realii.” Thirdly, Kluge speculates that US-Russian peace talks, which could point to a possible end to the war, are attracting normally reluctant volunteers who hope that, after accepting the signing bonus, peace will come before they are dispatched to the front line. Kluge estimates current country-wide recruitment rates to have risen to between 1,000 and1,500 new volunteers a day compared with around 600 a year ago. The Russian news site Verstka found that Moscow, which had historically seen limited numbers volunteering, also experienced a major upturn in recruitment rates that began in the middle of March and is supported by a renewed advertising push. In January, only 341 came forward compared with 993 in the first ten days of April alone. A spokesperson for Moscow’s municipal authority said the increase had not been achieved through payments to sign a contract but by appealing to volunteers’ “sense of patriotism.” Ironically, recruitment has taken such an upturn that a number of regions are considering reducing the bonuses they offer which, according to the Moscow Times, is costing Russia around 2 billion rubles ($24.2 million) a day. In fact, the first regional authority, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, has said that it will reduce the bounty from 3.1 million rubles ($37,000) to 1.9 million ($23,000) from April 15. An estimate by the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), cited by the New York Post on Saturday , says Russia will not be able to maintain current recruitment rates indefinitely because of a combination of financial and human resource limitations.