Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and their families are complaining that they are not being paid on time, or at all, according to data reported by an independent Russian-language news outlet.
Verstka identified a common theme on pages and chats in the Russian online social media and social networking service VKontakte in which military personnel and their relatives complained about the payments of salaries, allowances and social benefits.
Since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, Russians have been offered much more than the national average salary to join President Vladimir Putin’s forces. However, there have been numerous other reports of Russian soldiers complaining of poor training and a lack of payments.
Instead of the promised minimum of 195,000 rubles ($2,560) a month, the accounts are credited with amounts several times less. Russian servicemen can also receive various bonuses depending on their rank, level of qualification and years served.
Those affected include professional soldiers, those who enlisted in the army, as well as conscripts called up during Russia’s “partial” military mobilization drive announced by Putin in September 2022.
“My brother hasn’t been paid for two months,” said one post. “Will we start fighting for free, or what?” wrote another. A woman from Moscow named Victoria said that payments had stopped in January for her husband who was drafted last fall.
A woman named Daria from the Ivanovo region said her mobilized husband had not been paid since February. This month alone, there have been messages of discontent about delayed payments from people in 52 Russian regions.
Valentina Melnikova, who heads the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia, told the outlet that the problems in troop payments stemmed from the struggle of the Russian military’s bureaucracy to keep track of the huge number of additional soldiers in its ranks.
Adding to the problems is that a soldier might be attached to one unit but fights as part of another.
“We’ve never had so many people involved in conflicts before,” Melnikova told the outlet, pointing to the uniqueness of having volunteer and mobilized troops in the army at the same time. “There is no experience of working with such personnel.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry via email for comment.
In August, volunteers reported that they had not been adequately fed or given benefits they were promised, according to the Institute for the Study of War. British defense officials said in October that Russian conscripts had to pay for their own body armor.
In November, draftees stationed in the southern region of Ulyanovsk went on strike and refused to fight until they received the promised sum of 195,000 rubles.
Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and their families are complaining that they are not being paid on time, or at all, according to data reported by an independent Russian-language news outlet.
