Joining the Russian army makes sense, monetarily, if you a) are under crushing debt, or b) facing a sub-zero job market. The money’s good - but there’s a catch.
Unless you are drafted, going into the army in Russia is often a financial decision. Crushing debt loads, lack of employment opportunity and occasionally, the opportunity to procure items abroad all play a part. Being an officer is a different story, with a very different financial opportunity, so here, we look at what enlisted men in the Russian army can make.
Enlisted salaries
For a country where the average salary is about 70,000 rubles, or roughly 700 euro (the exchange rate at the time of writing is 98.8:1), army salaries can be tempting. The Moscow Times last year stated that a contract soldier in the Russian army received about 160,000 roubles [ 1600 eur – ed.] monthly.
Contract soldiers are supposed to get a one-time payment of 195,000 roubles (1950 €) when they sign up. They also receive bonuses for being in combat. Some contracts stipulate that the soldier will not fight in Ukraine, or not fight abroad at all, though the clause is often honoured in the breach. Regardless, contractors are in for the duration of the fighting.
Specialists can be expensive
In autumn 2023, a Ukrainian NGO called Ukrainian Victims of War and the Ukrainian Catholic University published a report that showed how the Russian army was coping with the loss of a lot of specialists. The loss of ordinary soldiers was being taken care of through mass actions such as the occasional drafting of new soldiers. However, for positions that needed skills, the rewards offered could be great.
Business Insider quoted the report as saying that skilled personnel volunteering to go into the army could earn salaries of up to 700,000 rubles (7,000 €) monthly, which is often more than the salaries of their soon-to-be commanders.
Spoils of war
Another way for Russian enlisted men to gain something under the current conditions is by looting in Ukraine. This was much more common at the beginning of the broad-scale invasion, when Russia attacked areas along Ukraine’s northern and northeastern borders as well as in the south, which had not previously felt the physical impact of war.
Plunder is nothing new. However, the heights taken by Russian war looting along the directions near Kyiv and Kharkiv in early 2022 became a horror – and a source of very dark humor among Ukrainians. Especially when it comes to toilets and washing machines for a country where 20% of houses do not have access to running water or sewage.
CNN reported in May 2022 about the story of 27 pieces of John Deere farming equipment ranging from tractors to seeders and combines, which had been stolen from an agricultural goods supplier near the city of Melitopol, in the south-east of Ukraine. The 27 items, worth more than $300,000 each, were all GPS-equipped, and thus trackable. Moreover, by being connected by satellite to John Deere, they were all rendered inoperable remotely by the factory upon arrival in Russia.
Despite the humor and twists of fate, looting can be dangerous. Scientists at Chernobyl, which fell under Russian occupation for weeks at the beginning of the broad-scale invasion, reported that 698 computers. 344 vehicles, 1,500 radiation dosimeters and practically the site’s whole complement of fire-fighting equipment was either stolen or destroyed.
