Vladimir Putin is under escalating pressure on two fronts – accused of taking war into space while secretly planning a new wave of mobilisation to replenish his battered army in Ukraine.
Russian satellites have recently been detected moving close to a radar satellite operated by a Finnish-Polish company and used by Ukrainian armed forces for intelligence. Experts at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said the manoeuvre could be intimidation, intelligence-gathering, jamming or destruction. Meanwhile, scientists have found GPS disruption across Europe, Greenland and Canada, blaming a group of Russian satellites that were in the same area at the time.
“Putin faces growing pressure as Russia is accused of space threats and plans new mobilisation amid record troop losses.”
These tensions have reignited fears that Russia may deploy nuclear weapons in orbit, breaking the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. German Major General Michael Traut warned that Russia may be developing technology to place nuclear devices in space. A detonation would shoot out an electromagnetic pulse, destroying global communications, GPS, banking and military command. Traut estimated up to one-third of low-earth orbit satellites – orbiting less than 1,200 miles above Earth – could be disabled, triggering a cascade of collisions. His concerns echo those of Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte. In 2024, Russia vetoed a UN resolution that called for member states not to develop such weapons.
On the ground, Putin’s army is suffering record-high fatalities of more than 30,000 per month and making negligible progress at the front. The flow of new recruits enlisting to fight is down by more than a third this spring compared with a year earlier, according to data obtained by Verstka. Eight sources inside the presidential administration and military enlistment apparatus told Verstka and Vazhnyye Istorii, both independent Russian outlets, that the idea of mobilisation was on the table for the first time since the disastrous call-up in 2022.
That earlier mobilisation triggered an exodus of some 700,000 Russians, roughly the size of Moscow’s entire fighting force in Ukraine. Those who left were disproportionately young, educated and affluent: 85 per cent under 35 and 80 per cent with higher education. Nearly 11.5 per cent of Russians’ bank savings – about 4tn rubles (£40.5bn) – left the country in 2022. Putin is believed to have been reluctant to repeat the move, instead relying on lucrative pay, signing bonuses, and recruiting from the margins: prisoners, migrant workers and debtors.
But with troop numbers faltering, alternative measures are now being considered. Some sources said the Kremlin was more likely to call up reservists. Ukrainian officials believe Russia is also looking to recruit 18,500 foreigners. At least 27,000 foreign nationals from more than 130 countries have already signed up, according to a report by Truth Hounds, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and regional partners. Average monthly regional payouts for recruiters have more than doubled this year, while bonuses for recruits have surged. A recruitment poster in St Petersburg advertised an annual salary of up to 7m rubles (£70,000). Applicants are increasingly offered “rear” roles – drivers, guards, construction workers or even “peacekeepers”, a role that does not appear to exist – before being dispatched to the front.
Troop shortages have led to viral videos from the city of Penza showing balaclava-clad draft officers seizing people in the streets. Putin may now have to choose between risking public fury with a new mobilisation or watching his army continue to bleed.