Russia Has Run Out of Money For Soldiers, Suspends Some Payments

If there is anything dictators down through history have learned, it is that their troops must be paid - or there will be consequences.

The Kremlin has increasingly demanded that its regions pick up the tab for signing bonuses and other incentives, in order to spread the pain - and hide the budget reality. The burden has fallen hardest on poor, rural areas often dominated by ethnic minority populations from whom the bulk of recruits are sourced. That a growing number report an inability to make those payments is leading to recruiting shortfalls and confirms evidence of economic difficulties as well as military challenges. JL

Brendan Cole reports in Newsweek:

Payments for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine were suspended due to a lack of funds. Troops from the Yakutia republic in Russia’s far-east could not receive bonuses and one-time payments due to the shortfall. The financial burden of incentivizing recruitment has forced regions to slash or suspend payments. Since the beginning of October Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Mari El, and Samara cut bonuses to recruits from two million rubles ($20,000) to 400,000 rubles ($4,000) with similar cuts in Belgorod oblast and the Yamal-Nenets District. Yakutia suspended payments to troops due to a regional budget shortfall and an inability to forecast demand. Recruitment centers in Yakutia were failing to meet 40% of Moscow's quotas. Similar problems were found in the country’s far-east

Payments for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine were suspended due to a lack of budget funds, it has been reported. 

The finance minister from Yakutia said that troops from the republic in Russia’s far-eastern republic could not receive bonuses and one-time payments due to the shortfall. 

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment. 

 

Vladimir Putin has pledged record military spending to attract troops to fight in the war, but also as part of a long-term policy to beef up the Russian armed forces.  

Reports that troops have faced problems getting payments could be a warning sign of liquidity problems inside Russia’s war machine. 

 

Russia has offered huge financial incentives to attract recruits, which include large signing-on bonuses, salaries several times that of the national average and compensation packages for families in the event of injuries or death.   

These payments vary from region to region, but according to Yakutsk Online, the republic had previously allocated up to 2.6 million rubles (approximately $29,000) per contract soldier.

 

This is divided among federal (400,000 rubles—$4,500), regional (1.8 million rubles—$20,000), and municipal budgets (400,000 rubles—$4,500), according to United24 Media.

However, Russian media reported that Yakutia had suspended payments to troops due to a regional budget shortfall and an inability to forecast demand. 

The republic’s finance minister, Ivan Alekseev, announced the pause in payments during a local television broadcast in which he explained how it was impossible to calculate in advance how many people would need payments.

He did not specify what kind of payments had been suspended, but did say that the problems would be fixed and that the amounts would be made soon.

 

As Russia reels from sanctions because of Putin’s aggression, the financial burden of incentivizing recruitment has forced regions to slash or suspend payments. 

Since the beginning of October, four federal subjects—Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Mari El, and Samara—cut bonuses to recruits from more than two million rubles ($20,000) to 400,000 rubles ($4,000) with similar cuts in Belgorod oblast and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, according to Russian media sources cited by the Jamestown Foundation. 

Yakutia was among Russian regions that had found it difficult to recruit contract soldiers due to heavy losses, low payments and the reluctance of local authorities to support mobilization efforts, Ukrainian military intelligence (DIU) said in October on Telegram.

It added that recruitment centers in Yakutia were failing to meet 40 percent of Moscow's established quotas and that similar recruitment problems were found in the country’s far-east, according to the DIU. 

 

What People Are Saying 

Yakutia’s finance minister Ivan Alekseev said on the suspension of troop payments as per Russian local outlet Yakutsk Online: “Unfortunately, we really have such a situation. However, the government has worked it out and the funds have been found... and all payments will be made.” 

What Happens Next

Officials in Yakutia have said that the payments would be made soon. However, as Russian losses continue to mount, the financial strain of finding recruits to go to Ukraine could cause further economic problems for Moscow's war machine.