Russian regions are paying four times as much to try to increase the number of recruits, responding to huge casualties on the ground
Russian regions are drastically increasing the amount of money they pay new military recruits as, according to analysts, “ideological” recruitment campaigns are no longer enough to motivate people to fight in Ukraine.
In recent days, several regions announced that they would quadruple sign-up bonuses in an attempt to increase the number of recruits.
Russia has suffered huge casualties in its war against Ukraine, with around a million Russian soldiers killed or injured since the full-scale invasion began three and a half years ago.
Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov made recruitment one of the Armed Forces’ top priorities during a high-level meeting in August, stressing that personnel are “fundamental to supporting offensive operations”.
But while Belousov claimed that recruitment objectives were being met, the independent Russian investigative agency IStories said otherwise.
Based on official data on budget expenditures, around 37,900 people signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense in the second quarter of 2025, that is, two and a half times less than a year ago.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict watchdog, said Russian force-building efforts “increasingly resembled complex business models rather than an ideologically driven recruitment campaign.”
In a review note published in September, ISW said Russian authorities and informal recruiters “continue to employ financial incentives, deception and coercion” to bolster recruitment.
Four times the annual salary
The government of the Tyumen region in Siberia announced this Monday that it will pay new recruits a fixed amount of three million rubles (more than 31 thousand euros), in addition to the 400 thousand rubles (around 4,200 euros) they receive from the federal government – as long as the recruits register before the end of November.
The new regional payment represents a significant increase compared to the 1.9 million rubles (close to 21 thousand euros) that Tyumen recruits received to date and is equivalent to three full years of average salary in that region, according to Rosstat, the Russian Federal Statistical Service.
Similarly, the governor of the Voronezh region in southwestern Russia announced on Telegram last week that the region’s registration payments would quadruple to 2.1 million rubles (more than 22 thousand euros).
The local government of Voronezh said that to receive payment, recruits do not need to be from the region, as long as that is where they sign the documents.
The Tambov, Krasnodar, Kurgan and Altai regions, as well as the Republic of Tatarstan, also announced significant increases in payments, which are in addition to the monthly salary of contract soldiers fighting in Ukraine. This starts at around 210 thousand rubles (less than 2,500 euros), more than double the average Russian salary.
CNN’s Victoria Butenko contributed reporting
