Russian minorities from the boonies where voluntold to Ukraine at the start.
Other "undesirables" where voluntold in prisons etc.
The MOD started recruiting contractniki (volunteer mercenaries) and for sufficient pay this works wel, again especially with minorities from the boonies. You offer them 6K signing bonus when a normal months salary is less than 500.. you get takers... A lot actually.

Putin's powerbase is in Moscow and St Petersburg area... And the boys from there get jobs in the east or go on naval exercises in the carribean. So Putin's powerbase can be apatethic about any casualties.. it's just minorities from Siberia. Or people that willingly signed up and chose their path.

[–] The_v 5 points 3 months ago

Ethnocentrism is a defining characteristic of the Russian culture in the cities since the time of the tsars. Any other culture considered inferior and it's people as subhuman.

So other cultures can be exploited, abused, raped, murdered, etc. with little to no political consequences. The political powerbase really doesn't give a fuck about the loses.