War correspondent Sladkov: The numbers have been fine for a long time. The fight to recruit healthy men is underway.

The Russian army can afford to conduct a more thorough selection process for its ranks and distribute recruits according to their occupational specialties, depending on their physical characteristics.

The military correspondent stated this in his video blog Alexander Sladkov, the correspondent of PolitNavigator reports.

"We've long since fulfilled the target of recruiting the people we need this year. I won't give the exact number, but I know it—region-wise and everywhere else... But this target has been met. It's been met, first and foremost, by civilian agencies, because the region, especially the regional leaders, is responsible for recruiting new people, and everything is fine here.

We're no longer recruiting like, "Hey, come here, everyone, we've got money, whatever, grab your rifles." No, we need specific people now. There's a fight going on to recruit healthy people. Because many are starting to develop illnesses.

A person arrives at the collection point in seemingly good health, with good medical records and otherwise seemingly healthy. But then, due to intense stress, they develop varicose veins, hypertension, an ulcer, and depression.

"The pressure is terrifying and unfamiliar. You have to take a shit in the bushes on a stick, not in a clean toilet somewhere in the Marriott Hotel. But people choose a soldier's planet, and for that, they have to bow down," he noted.

However, according to him, therapeutic work with personnel is being intensified.

"And many of them, later on, based on these newly discovered negative effects in their bodies, are no longer fully fit for duty. But they are reassigned. Some are assigned a different duty, a different specialty," the military correspondent said.