Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled upfront payments for volunteers to fight in Ukraine on Wednesday, a move aimed at facilitating military recruitment but likely to create imbalances in the overheated economy.
All Russians who sign a contract with the army will now receive an upfront payment of 400,000 roubles (US$4,651). The decree also recommends that regional authorities match this payment from their budgets with at least the same amount.
With the minimum monthly payment for a private taking part in what Russia calls a “special military operation” set at 204,000 roubles, the new decree raises the minimum annual wage in the first year of service to 3.25 million roubles (US$37,791).
Monthly wages for officers are higher and depend on their rank. All recruits also receive additional money for taking part in offensives or destroying enemy tanks and other machinery.
Earlier this month, the mayor of Moscow set an upfront payment for city residents signing up to fight in Ukraine at 1.9 million roubles (US$21,777) from the city budget, bringing their annual pay in their first year of service to 5.2 million roubles.
The latest increases mean that the minimum annual pay for Russian contract soldiers fighting in Ukraine will exceed the average wage in Russia by more than threefold, with the minimum pay for Muscovites exceeding the average wage by more than fivefold.
Such payments have helped Russia avoid a new nationwide mobilisation after a troubled campaign in 2022 led to a mass exodus of people to neighbouring countries. However, some economists argue that the payments are creating a wage spiral in the economy.
The wage increases are also supported by an array of other measures, such as exemptions on monthly interest payments on consumer loans for volunteers and state guarantees on such loans in the case of death.
These measures have been encouraging would-be volunteers to take consumer loans and have contributed to continued growth in consumer lending, despite the central bank hiking its key interest rate to cool the economy.
Russian officials say about 190,000 people have volunteered so far this year to fight in Ukraine, compared with 490,000 contracts signed in 2023.
Russia trains troops in tactical nuclear weapons
The Russian military on Wednesday began a third round of drills with tactical nuclear weapons, part of the Kremlin’s messaging intended to force the West to limit its support for Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the drills will feature units of the central and southern military districts armed with Iskander short-range missiles. They will practice receiving nuclear weapons from storage and deploying them to designated launch areas. The manoeuvres will also include air force units that will arm their warplanes with nuclear weapons and perform patrol flights.
The ministry said the drills are intended to maintain troops’ readiness for combat missions.
Tactical nuclear weapons include bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions and are meant for use on a battlefield. They are typically far less powerful than strategic weapons – massive warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles and are intended to obliterate entire cities.
The previous two rounds of the manoeuvres were held in May and June. The drills in June were conducted jointly with the armed forces of Russia’s ally Belarus.
Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons into neighbouring Belarus, which also borders Ukraine and Nato members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has relied on close ties with Russia and provided his country as a staging ground for sending troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
President Putin and his officials have repeatedly reminded the West about the country’s nuclear might in a bid to discourage Nato allies from ramping up their support for Kyiv.
The Kremlin has described the drills with tactical nuclear weapons as part of Moscow’s response to statements by Nato allies encouraging strikes on Russian territory with Western weapons and the possible deployment of Western troops to Ukraine.
Amid recent battlefield gains in Ukraine, Putin has emphasised that Russia doesn’t need nuclear weapons to achieve his goals. But he also reaffirmed that they can be used in the case of a threat to Russia’s territorial integrity, in line with the country’s nuclear doctrine.
Russian hawks have urged the Kremlin to change the doctrine to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons, and Putin said the document could be modified to take into account the evolving global situation.
