INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
car, and now I am saving up to buy property," one serviceman told The Moscow Times, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety
Russia short of manpower, authorities are offering volunteers sums many times the country's median wage, which was 61,602 rubles ($628) as
Alexei Russkikh said Russia needed more troops "to compensate for the losses" suffered in Ukraine.Including the lump sum, a volunteer can
now expect to earn over 5 million rubles (about $46,296) a year, or 415,000 rubles ($3,843) a month in the first year and then over 200,000
than 100,000 rubles ($926) per month for a single person and 150,000 rubles ($1,389) for a household without children.Also important are the
additional perks provided to servicemen
The Kremlin has announced that military veterans will be able to take out mortgages at a discounted rate of 2% in several regions, which
than we estimated because we expected 20,000-21,000 people [to be recruited every month]..
of the Carnegie Politika podcast, analyst Michael Kofman said Russia needs to keep recruitment at about 30,000 soldiers per month to
maintain its current level of operations, adding that he sees no immediate need for a second wave of mobilization.Good pay, uncertain
Russian lawmaker, Alexei Borodai, described the volunteers as an unproductive "section of the population" who, when drafted, were often
but 80% of them have no higher education, and a significant proportion of the recently recruited fighters are underemployed or blue-collar
poll by the independent Levada Center conducted on Oct
army: Yes, the pay is good, but they recruit everyone, which has a negative effect on prestige."Another soldier said he did not plan to
continue his military career when he was demobilized, but would rather use the money he had earned to start his own business as a
those leaving the army to ease their transition into the civilian economy, economist Natalya Zubarevich said in an interview with the RTVI
offer ex-soldiers additional allowances and benefits, such as subsidized housing and utilities as well as higher pensions, she added."This
is cheaper than paying the full amount of the allowance, and it will definitely ease the transition," Zubarevich noted, citing the
growing coercive element in the Russian recruitment process.According to Kofman, the shortage of personnel may become a more pressing factor
liable for compulsory service, from which a proportion of soldiers will be sent to the frontline, may be a way for Russia to avoid a second
