cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/51706982

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Women are now among the thousands of migrants from Central Asia serving in Russia’s military, including on the front lines in Ukraine. The Uzbek human rights organization Ezgylik has received letters from the parents of young women from the region serving prison sentences in Russia who say that their daughters are being offered 2 million rubles ($26,000) for one year of military service in Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has been sending women to Ukraine to fill a range of military roles for the past four years. Some were among the tens of thousands of women already serving in the Armed Forces when full-scale war began in February 2022, while a small number of women with medical training were called up in the partial mobilization that September.

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So far Russia has not sought to draw attention to the participation of women in military roles in its war in Ukraine. This is in sharp contrast to the attitude shown by the Ukrainians, who quickly opened all military roles to women, including combat roles, and proudly point to the presence and contribution of women soldiers as a symbol of the country’s commitment to gender equality.

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In Russia, though, the reality that there are women in the military serving side by side with men contradicts the image that President Vladimir Putin wants to present of Russia as a bastion of conservative values, where men and women perform traditional gender roles. In his ideal Russia, military service, especially in wartime, is the experience that creates real men.

The current, modest, increase in the numbers of women in uniform, including the women from Central Asia looking for a way to avoid lengthy prison sentences, is just one aspect of Russia’s efforts to ensure a steady flow of new soldiers for the war effort. The approach that Russia has taken to the war in Ukraine treats soldiers as disposable, low-value assets. It is widely believed that Russian casualties (deaths, missing soldiers and serious injuries) in Ukraine reached 1 million in the summer of 2025.

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[The reality is that] Russia’s war is not being fought, by and large, by young Russian men motivated by patriotism. Instead, it is being fought by a mixture of foreigners, former prisoners and older Russian men who have so few viable alternatives in the civilian economy that they are willing to risk their lives for a reliable salary and a package of benefits that will ensure their families’ prosperity. Russia’s reliance on women serving in uniform is also increasing, although the numbers continue to be relatively small.

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So far Russia continues to paper over the cracks in the façade that it presents of a state that promotes and cherishes traditional family values. But the sharp rhetorical distinction that Putin’s Russia makes between suitable wartime roles for men and women risks being undermined by the reality of women’s presence on the front lines, whether that presence is acknowledged and celebrated or kept hidden away.