Some Russian women – labeled “Black Widows” by the Russian press – appear to be marrying mobilized soldiers or pressuring their civilian partners to enlist in order to claim state compensation when they are killed in Ukraine, Foreign Policy reported on Monday.
A consistent supply of new soldiers is central to the Russian military strategy of attempting to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses through sheer manpower. Struggling to maintain the level of recruitment necessary for this, the Kremlin has thrown more and more financial resources into making injury or death in the service of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” look like an attractive option.
As of 2025, the value of the grobovye (or “coffin money”) awarded to the family of a Russian soldier who dies in Ukraine can be as much as 13 million rubles ($160,000).
Unsurprisingly, this has also led to the system being abused – including by the soldiers themselves. Earlier this year, Ukrainian intelligence publicized a large-scale corruption scheme carried out by a Russian unit fighting in Ukraine. The men involved claimed state compensation for fabricated injuries.
One civilian woman, who worked at a military enlistment office, married a man who enlisted the day after their wedding. She claimed more than 3 million rubles ($37,000) from the state when he was killed in Ukraine four months later – but a Russian court ultimately ruled that the marriage was “fictitious” after the man’s brother disputed her claim.
In another case, a real estate agent advised her clients to marry soldiers deployed to Ukraine in order to secure enough money for down payments on her properties after their deaths. According to Meduza, she described this advice as a “business plan.”
There is also some evidence of so-called “Black Widows” operating as part of criminal gangs. Four people were arrested in Siberia in May of this year, according to Russian media outlets – the woman herself, a corrupt police officer who identified her targets, and two others. The woman, “Natalia,” reportedly married and claimed state compensation for the deaths of four different men.
The value of their combined grobovye came to 15 million rubles ($186,000), which Russian investigators said was then shared out between the four gang members.