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6/16/2025, 10:08:12 AM
Russia's Blood Money
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A soldier’s signing bonus still isn’t enough to buy a foreign car, revealing the strained economics of Russia's war effort.
In the transactional reality of Russia's war in Ukraine, patriotism comes with a hefty price tag. To fill the ranks, the Kremlin and regional governments are offering vast sums of money to new contract soldiers. The most generous packages, found in the Moscow and Tula regions, can reach 3 million rubles (roughly $33,000) when federal and regional bonuses are combined. Yet as a new analysis by the BBC Russian Service reveals, this life-risking sum is still not enough to buy a new foreign-made car, and it would afford its recipient a mere 18 square metres of housing—less than a standard studio apartment.
This grim calculation lies at the heart of Russia's recruitment strategy: a complex, volatile, and increasingly strained market for military manpower. The payments are a patchwork of federal stipends, regional top-ups, and sometimes municipal bonuses. Nearly half of Russia's regions now offer recruits a total package exceeding 2 million rubles. This system has created a chaotic internal market for soldiers. In May and June, regions like Altai and Krasnoyarsk more than doubled their payouts to around 1 million rubles. Tula, in a bizarre reversal, slashed its bonus from 2.1 million to 800,000 rubles in March, only to hike it to a market-leading 2.6 million in June, all without explanation.
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A soldier’s signing bonus still isn’t enough to buy a foreign car, revealing the strained economics of Russia's war effort.
In the transactional reality of Russia's war in Ukraine, patriotism comes with a hefty price tag. To fill the ranks, the Kremlin and regional governments are offering vast sums of money to new contract soldiers. The most generous packages, found in the Moscow and Tula regions, can reach 3 million rubles (roughly $33,000) when federal and regional bonuses are combined. Yet as a new analysis by the BBC Russian Service reveals, this life-risking sum is still not enough to buy a new foreign-made car, and it would afford its recipient a mere 18 square metres of housing—less than a standard studio apartment.
This grim calculation lies at the heart of Russia's recruitment strategy: a complex, volatile, and increasingly strained market for military manpower. The payments are a patchwork of federal stipends, regional top-ups, and sometimes municipal bonuses. Nearly half of Russia's regions now offer recruits a total package exceeding 2 million rubles. This system has created a chaotic internal market for soldiers. In May and June, regions like Altai and Krasnoyarsk more than doubled their payouts to around 1 million rubles. Tula, in a bizarre reversal, slashed its bonus from 2.1 million to 800,000 rubles in March, only to hike it to a market-leading 2.6 million in June, all without explanation.
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