‘It's Beneficial to Them to Consider Him Missing’ – Russian Soldier Says Moscow Hides Frontline Deaths to Avoid Compensation

Moscow is concealing the fact that its soldiers have died at the front line in Ukraine to avoid compensating their beneficiaries, a Russian serviceman says in an intercepted telephone conversation published by Ukraine's Military Intelligence service (HUR) on Friday, April 5.

“They keep telling me the same thing: he is still alive. He is not listed as missing, he is not wounded,” a soldier tells someone who appears to be a comrade. “And I say, well, why doesn't he get his salary then? I say it was paid to everyone but not to him. I say, why are you making a fool of me?”

In the call, the Russian soldier says that the Kremlin counts a soldier “missing” rather than dead to avoid paying compensation.

“I say, it's beneficial for you to tell me he is not missing, so you don't have to pay for him…You know, we haven't heard from him for a month and a half,” the soldier adds.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised the families of killed soldiers nearly 5 million rubles ($54,000) as a one-time payment for death, followed by non-specified further monthly payments.

In its draft budget for 2024, the Kremlin says it’s set aside funds to compensate 100,000 families of the soldiers killed in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Discord over commanders' unrealistic goals and extremely hazardous combat tasks appears to be growing among Russian soldiers.

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In a number of conversations recently intercepted by HUR, soldiers discuss ways to give up serving and avoid further deployment to the frontline while civilians panic about being conscripted.

For example, a Russian soldier was overheard on a phone call revealing that a portion of Moscow's battalion had defied orders and was currently “idle in the forest, not engaged in combat.”

In another instance,  Russian soldiers were complaining about not being given leave in almost two years and saying that “soon we'll gather a crowd and head towards Russia.”

Last year, Kyiv Post interviewed Maria* who works as one of Ukrainian intelligence’s professional eavesdroppers and spoke about the shocking things she hears.

Russia regularly dismisses the content of intercepted calls published by Ukraine, saying they are faked, a claim Kyiv Post put to Maria.

She said: “Yes, they all are real even though they might seem insane. Sometimes I can’t believe the words I’m hearing myself, but we have what we have.”

Kyiv Post regularly reposts some of the most revealing and shocking intercepted conversations.

You can read some of them in the links below:

'Half a Battalion Escaped to The Forest' – Russian Soldier Blamed for Mass Refusal to Fight

‘The Assault Failed, Everyone Was Killed’ – Russian Soldier Reveals Horrific Losses, Possibly at Avdiivka

'150,000 Men Will Be Thrown In’ – Russian Soldier Reveals Fears of ‘Huge’ Ukrainian Crimea Liberation Force

'We Lost 600 Men’ – Russian Reveals Horrific Losses and Behavior On Frontlines

‘All Our Guys Were Slaughtered’ – Intercepted Phone Calls Suggest Huge Russian Losses

‘He Started Shooting Us!’ – Intercepted Phone Call Reveals Russian Friendly Fire Incident

‘We’ll Tear You Apart’ – Ukrainian Soldiers Are Trolling Russian Commanders on Telegram

‘War Until 2026’ - Russian Soldier Claims He’s Been Told To Expect 3 More Years of Fighting