Going to war from the poorest parts of Russia is economically profitable. The families of the dead soldiers are offered huge rewards compared to the average income.
Russia is suffering heavy losses in Ukraine, and in order to make up for them, the authorities are attracting new soldiers from remote areas with large sums of money.
In some of the country’s poorest regions, soldiers have been offered almost 20,000 euros for going to war, says The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The families of soldiers who died on the front line will receive up to 14.5 million rubles, or about 143,000 euros, as compensation from the government. In addition to the bonus, families are entitled to insurance premiums and other bonuses, says a Russian economist Vladislav Inozemtsev for the WSJ.
According to him, the reward of 14.5 million rubles is significantly more than the salary received by a 35-year-old soldier from his working career until the age of 60.
In the poorest regions of Russia, the average monthly salary can remain below 400 euros.
In some areas, every second ruble earmarked for social aid ends up going to soldiers and families of the fallen. In certain regions, this allocation exceeds even half of the entire social budget, reports the WSJ.
More than a third of Russia’s regions, 35 percent, put at least a quarter of their welfare funds into war-related payments.
Soldiers are recruited by questionable means
The Kremlin allocates a quota amount to each region of Russia for recruiting soldiers, says an online magazine operating from Amsterdam Moscow Times.
It is the responsibility of local authorities to report their progress to the former president and the deputy director of the National Security Council to Dmitry Medvedev.
Regional authorities use a variety of coercive tactics in an effort to meet required quotas.
Russian opposition newspaper Medusa According to the report, extortion methods have been used, among other things, to intimidate 18-year-old conscripts, send fake job advertisements and pressure those under criminal investigation to sign contracts.
However, for most men, the promise of an attractive monetary reward is sufficient as a motive.
Regional managers also crave big rewards. They recruit as many new soldiers as possible from their regions, and it doesn’t matter if they end up coming from outside their own region.
– This has created a strange competition between the regions: everyone tries to offer more money to the soldiers, knowing that they also compare offers to get the highest possible reward, says the researcher Maria Vyushkova for the Moscow Times.
Russia is losing
The manpower shortage of the Russian armed forces is constantly getting worse. The country’s losses in Ukraine have been heavy in recent weeks and the number of dead and wounded has been exceptionally high.
According to the British Armed Forces, Russia’s losses averaged 1,500 dead or wounded soldiers per day in October.
According to the Ukrainian armed forces, Russia lost 1,950 soldiers last Sunday, they said, among other things Ukrainian Pravda and Kyiv Post. The figure includes the dead and wounded. It has not been possible to verify the figures from independent sources.
BBCafter the start of the Russian attack, Russia would have already lost around 700,000 soldiers killed or wounded.
In addition, the diligent recruitment of soldiers brings many kinds of loss to poor areas. After the men went to war, many small towns suffered from a labor shortage of welders, drivers and builders, writes the WSJ.