# Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Tags:** ukraine-invasion, breaking-news\
**Created:** [February 24, 2022, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037 "2022-02-24T08:30:03Z")\
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**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/8007 "2022-09-14T12:49:47Z")

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> [@Russia-Ukraine War Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-ukraine-war-questions/971478/13):
>
> The conventional wisdom why Putin hasn’t declared war and initiated a general mobilization is that doing so would draw troops from his political power base - big urban areas like Moscow and St Petersburg, thereby increasing potential for political unrest as casualties stack up. As it stands, they’re drawing most of their recruits from impoverished rural areas. The unpopularity of a draft grows exponentially worse the longer the conflict goes on and the more casualties are sustained. It was largely Russian mothers, after all, that put an end to their war in Afghanistan.
> 
> Another of the less discussed reasons Putin doesn’t want to make this an official war is to reduce costs. Russian military payrolls are similar to that of the US. Both have complicated benefits packages for active duty servicemembers and their families. When there are wars going on, personnel costs increase dramatically for things like ‘combat pay,’ ‘selective assignment bonuses’, and ‘hazardous duty’ pay. When there is no war going on there’s no need to pay these additional benefits.

One other effect on Russia not being officially at war is that enlistees - _during peacetime_ - have the option to refuse service in Ukraine _if they are in Russia_. This has been the main reason why Russian commanders are not rotating their forces and not allowing troopers to set foot onto Russian soil, even briefly. This also partly explains why Russian troops made a beeline to retreat into Russia as fast as they could when they abandoned Kharkiv. Large numbers of enlisted are showing up at police stations and other government offices in towns across the border, telling officials they got ‘lost or separated from their units’ and now applying to refuse service in Ukraine. They can’t legally be released from service and must be sent elsewhere in Russia for duty for the remainder of their contract, but the bottom line is that those soldiers are from an operational perspective as good as KIA as they aren’t returning to the front.

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