Russia is pressuring students at top universities to join the military, with sources describing tactics that resemble coercion as the Ukraine conflict persists and Putin’s battlefield losses grow.
At Bauman Moscow State Technical University and St Petersburg State Technical University, students report that academic deadlines are being tightened and debt clearance periods shortened, effectively forcing students to choose between enlistment and expulsion, risking their educational futures.
“We are not given academic leave… the rector’s office does its best to send its students to serve under contract,” one student said, highlighting the pressure that can feel like coercion.
“If the commission is not passed, you should be expelled.”
Reports indicate that faculty members are actively promoting military service, especially to students struggling academically, with some students reporting direct pressure and recruitment drives held in lecture halls.
Critics have called the measures coercive, arguing that young Russians are being pushed into the battlefield instead of being allowed to continue their education.
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The pressure on students occurs amid mounting domestic strain in Russia, as losses in Ukraine escalate, reflecting the country’s internal challenges and tensions related to the ongoing conflict.
“They are doing everything they can to get students under contract,” a source told Astra, describing the moves as a “crisis on campuses.”
Russia is losing soldiers by the tens of thousands in Ukraine, NATO chief Mark Rutte revealed at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, underscoring the heavy toll and the human cost of the ongoing conflict.
Rutte said at the conference, “They are not winning this. Small gains only. Almost irrelevant.”
Rutte warned that Vladimir Putin is willing to accept “crazy losses” — a sign of reckless, dangerous behaviour that should alarm everyone about the risks of escalation.
The NATO chief added, “We will win every fight with Russia if they attack us now. And we have to make sure in two, four, six years that that is still the case.”
Russia continues to throw troops into Ukraine while achieving almost nothing. NATO says Putin’s appetite for carnage is proving catastrophic for Moscow.
The alliance is strong, united, and ready. Putin’s soldiers are dying. Ukraine is exploiting every weakness. Moscow is bleeding fast.
Putin has lost more troops in December 2025 alone than Moscow lost during the entire ten-year Soviet-Afghan war — a war Mikhail Gorbachev called a “bleeding wound.”
Putin believed the war would be a “quick operation”, just like the Soviets thought in Afghanistan.
