Russia has one of the largest police forces in the world, employing over 900,000 officers to serve a population of 146 million, according to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It has nearly 630 officers per 100,000 people - more than double the US or the UK.

But in August, Interior Ministry Chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev said the country had a “critical” shortage of police officers, which could affect crime rates.

Police officers across the country have been struggling with poor wages, stress and corruption which leads to a massive drop in police numbers - and many of those leaving are experienced officers.

After the start of the invasion of Ukraine, some officers wete initially convinced to stay in the force. Russian police officers are exempt from being called up for military duty, so some officers who were on the verge of resigning when Russia invaded Ukraine told us they kept their jobs to avoid fighting.

“Either you sat tight, or you left and got drafted,” explains one officer from Moscow. “I know there were managers who made a list of everyone who’d threatened to quit and passed it straight to the [army] recruiters. Everyone was pretty scared.”

But as the war rumbles on, police numbers are dwindling. The force cannot fill existing gaps - let alone recruit the 40,000 extra personnel that the Interior Ministry says is needed in Donetsk and Luhansk, areas of Ukraine that Russia partly occupies.