Faced with a shortage of volunteer recruits for the armed forces, Russia will allow men from nations that used to be part of the Soviet Union. Many men in these countries speak Russia, and joining the Russian armed forces will enable these men to become Russian citizens after three years of service. Many of these nations also contain millions of ethnic Russians who did not go back to Russia when the Soviet Union split up. Russia needs to draft 350,000 men a year to keep the 1.1 million man force up to strength. But they have not been able to get that many conscripts. So higher pay is being offered to volunteers.