Rusi: l’industria della difesa russa impiega circa 4,5 milioni di persone

Meanwhile Europe still has to decide how where and when to build ammunition.

..and just a reminder about the buІІѕhіt about “Putin’s War™”: an unforgivably large proportion (majority?) of these 4.5 million employees are “oppressed” ordinary Russians who are just “earning a living”, as the excuse has it. These ordinary Russians cynically comply via their civic silence / spinelessness all while they do their shifts turning out more munitions to be used to maim and murder more Ukrainians like those kids in Kryvyi Rih last week.

>As researchers note, the expansion of military production was also achieved through the ability to take existing civilian enterprises and forcibly reorient them to military production. This became possible primarily due to strict state control. 4.5 million defense industry workers

>Another important aspect of the changes in Russian legislation was the opportunity to expand the workforce available to the defense industry. Specifically, last-year university students, technical school students, and even prisoners convicted of criminal offenses were engaged in work. The involvement of these labor sources significantly reduces labor costs, as these workers are paid lower wages or are not paid at all. As of May 2024, about 34,000 prisoners in Russia were engaged in forced labor, both in the defense industry and in other sectors supporting the defense industry. It is planned to increase this number to 80,000 people in 2025.

With this much de facto **buy-in** from the general Russian population in the genocide effort, only a deluded bleeding-heart of a Russophile would *still* wallow in the inexcusable bothsiderism which equalizes the indisputable victimhood of the Ukrainians with this cynically counterfeit one of the “poor”, “oppressed” or “helpless” Russians.

“Defense” seems an odd choice, but I know what you meant