The military attracts record sums
Russian regions increase pay for war volunteers
October 8, 2024, 7:30 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Moscow’s military constantly needs a supply of new soldiers for its offensives in Ukraine. Now some Russian regions are increasing the pay for war volunteers, sometimes significantly. An indication of faltering recruiting efforts?
Authorities in several Russian regions have increased pay for military service in Ukraine. In the resource-rich Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk, volunteers receive a record annual sum of 5.27 million rubles, the equivalent of around 50,000 euros, if they agree to fight in Ukraine, as the authorities there announced. The sum is five times the average annual salary in Russia. In addition, an entry bonus of 2.7 million rubles will be paid.
The Belgorod region, which lies on the border with Ukraine, also announced that it would increase the entry bonus more than three times, from 800,000 to three million rubles. The prerequisite is that recruits report before January 1st. Since the summer, posters in the Moscow region have been advertising people fighting in Ukraine with annual salaries of 5.2 million rubles. In St. Petersburg, annual wages rose from 1.3 million to 1.8 million rubles.
In the southern Krasnodar region, the authorities doubled annual salaries for the third time since the start of the large-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022, most recently to 1.9 million rubles. Wages were also increased in the Yamalo-Nenets and Mari El regions, and in Dagestan – one of the poorest regions of Russia – by five times to 500,000 rubles.
In addition, volunteers should be recruited with telephone campaigns and posters. At the end of September, parliament also passed a law that would not prosecute criminals who agree to fight in Ukraine. Observers assume that the Kremlin wants to avoid further unpopular forced mobilization with these steps.
It is not clear to what extent the Russian army is having recruitment problems in the third year of the offensive, as the number of casualties is not published. In September, the BBC and the independent Russian news portal Mediazone reported that they had documented the deaths of around 70,000 Russian soldiers since the start of the major offensive in Ukraine. The number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher. According to the Wall Street Journal, Western intelligence agencies estimate Russian losses at 600,000 soldiers, including 200,000 dead and 400,000 wounded.