Russian regions up army pay to get more men to fight in Ukraine
by AFP Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Oct 8, 2024

Several Russian regions have announced significant pay and bonus hikes for those signing up to fight in Ukraine, as Moscow seeks to boost military recruitment in the offensive's third year.

Russia is offering lucrative salaries to join its fight in Ukraine in an effort to avoid another unpopular forced mobilisation drive, insisting it currently only relies on volunteers at the front.

Although the Russian army's losses are classified as secret, in the past increased pay has been a way to replenish ranks of units depleted by long-drawn-out and bloody conflicts.

In September, the BBC and independent Russian news site Mediazona said they had documented the deaths of around 70,000 Russian soldiers since the beginning of the Ukraine offensive.

Volunteers fighting in Ukraine receive a basic federal salary -- currently around 200,000 rubles ($2,000) a month -- but pay on top of that varies from region to region.

At the start of October, the oil-rich Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk said it would pay a record annual salary of 5.27 million rubles -- more than five times the national average -- for those at the front.

It also promised a sign-on bonus of 2.7 million rubles.

The Belgorod border region also announced in October that it was raising its sign-on bonus to three million rubles -- compared to 800,000 rubles previously offered -- for men signing up before January 1, 2025.

Russia has also stepped up an information campaign to convince more men to fight, using TV and posters stuck throughout cities to advertise the financial benefits.

In the Moscow region, recruitment posters have trumpeted an annual salary of 5.2 million rubles since this summer.

In the southern Krasnodar region, authorities almost doubled the army salary to 1.9 million rubles -- the third such increase since Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022.

For new recruits, salaries have almost doubled to 1.1 million rubles in the Arctic Yamalo-Nenets region and risen in the central Mari El region to 500,000 rubles.

Salaries have also risen to 500,000 rubles in Dagestan, one of Russia's poorest republics which is located in the Caucasus.

Besides financial benefits, Moscow has also turned to other measures to boost recruitment.

In September, Russia's parliament approved a law allowing criminal prosecution to be waived for those who enlist at the front.

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