Now that Putin wants to win the war with money, US inflation has risen slightly to 3.2 percent

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a problem. His war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine has now been going on for more than 530 days – and it costs money.

Western economic sanctions are making trade more difficult, and energy exports that have been halted as a result have dried up major cash flows and plunged the ruble’s value (t-online reported). Restocking weapons is also difficult.

Especially the most important resource, battle-ready soldiers, is becoming increasingly difficult to find. At the beginning of the war, the Kremlin announced that the “special military operation” would be carried out with contract soldiers, but a short time later this was no longer enough and a “partial mobilization” followed.

At the time, many Russians feared that a general mobilization would follow. So far that has not happened – despite the heavy casualties suffered by Russian troops. The economist and Kremlin critic Vladislav Inosemtsev attributes the fact that Putin continues to fill the gaps in the army to a mixture of propaganda and financial incentives for young Russians. “Dying on the battlefield is not only an ‘honorable fate’ in today’s Russia, but also a lucrative risk to one’s life,” he writes in a guest article for Lithuania-based Russian online medium “Riddle”.

Triple the average salary

Inosemtsev presents several example calculations that show: For young men, frontline service can replace an entire career, and when in doubt, their deaths offer their families more than they could if they were alive. A treacherous calculation that seems to work for Putin.

At the end of 2022, unskilled recruits received a salary of at least 195,000 rubles a month, which at the time corresponded to about 2,900 francs (currently, due to the falling ruble rate, about 1,730 francs). In May 2023, even flyers advertised 220,000 rubles – so another plus of as much as 12 percent.

The comparison with wage levels at the start of the war is even sharper, as wages have risen by more than 500 percent. At that time, a contract soldier with military experience received between 38,000 and 42,000 rubles, the equivalent of about 500 francs at the exchange rate of the ruble at the time.

You should know: according to various reports, the average salary in Russia is currently 63,000 rubles a month, which is only a third of the new soldier’s salary. In the poorer regions of the country, the difference is even greater.

Putin has also significantly increased payments to families in the event of a soldier’s death. At the beginning of 2022, the relatives received three million rubles, equivalent to about 39,000 francs. Only a few months later, the relatives received the so-called “one-off payment from the president” of five million rubles (approximately CHF 48,000).

Not everyone is happy with the high wages

What these figures can mean for a single young Russian can best be illustrated with an example. Inosemtsev calculates that a soldier currently earns between 195,000 and 200,000 rubles a month for five months of military service, and with this basic salary he would already be around a million rubles (nearly 9,600 francs) for his combat mission.

If the soldier subsequently dies, the survivors receive the “one-off payment from the president” of five million rubles (almost CHF 48,000). In addition, there are insurance claims and regular compensation for the death of a military member involved in combat operations, as well as compensation from the regional authorities. In total, the example family would receive about 14.8 million rubles, which corresponds to about 135,000 francs at the current exchange rate.

An amount that many Russians can only dream of after a lifetime of work. In regions such as Ivanovo Oblast, the average monthly salary at the end of 2022 was 35,000 rubles. In other regions, including Siberia and the North Caucasus, people earn about 40,000 rubles a month.

For the more than 14 million rubles, a person has to work here for more than 30 years. “In other words, the Putin regime not only glorifies and glorifies death, it also rationalizes it as a good choice,” says Inosemtsev.

But not all soldiers are happy with the higher wages. The outrage is especially strong among experienced military personnel: although their salaries have been partially adjusted, they are often below what unskilled new recruits should receive. This is what the deserted lieutenant Dimitri Mischow reports in an interview with the BBC. He himself received 90,000 rubles a month before fleeing Russia, while his young colleagues started with 204,000 rubles.

However, it is unclear whether the money actually reaches the recruits and their families. Several wives of Russian soldiers reported to the broadcaster “Radio Free Europe” that wages were paid late and sometimes not at all. An investigation of posts on social networks by the independent news agency Verstka concludes that this is currently a common phenomenon.

Expert: Putin is preparing post-war period

After all, estimates assume that the number of conscripts and contract soldiers is now between 400,000 and 450,000 people. This means that the annual salary alone is at least one trillion rubles (about 9.6 billion Swiss francs). In addition, according to Inosemtsev, there is about the same amount in the form of compensation payments for wounded and killed soldiers. Two trillion rubles correspond to almost ten percent of the federal government’s expenditure.

The Russian leadership does not seem to see this as a problem. Instead, soldiers are getting more and more privileges. For example, income tax no longer has to be paid on state benefits and aid to the military and compensation in the event of insolvency is not included in the bankrupt estate. Inozemtsev draws the conclusion: “The country has become accustomed to death and dying has been made economically attractive.”

(t online)