Moscow Residents Offered $22,000 Military Sign-up Bonus

Moscow’s authorities have introduced a 1.9 million rubles ($21,907) signing on bonus to incentivize residents of the capital to join the Russian military in a bid to bolster its ranks.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin signed the decree on Tuesday, July 23. An official press release from his office stated that “servicemen selected by the city selection point for military service under a contract” could receive a one-time bonus alongside other payments.

The decree stated that the bonus applied to those who signed up “for a period of one year or more.”

In addition to payment from the Russian military, they are also entitled to additional payment from Moscow’s authorities.

“Thus, the total amount of payments to a contract soldier (taking into account the monthly salary, Moscow and federal support measures) will amount to over 5.2 million rubles ($59,959) for the first year of service,” the press release read.

For injuries, Moscow authorities claimed it would pay each soldier who entered service in Moscow 500,000 rubles ($5,765) for minor injuries and 1 million rubles ($11,531) for major injuries sustained in Ukraine. For those who died in Ukraine, it claimed it would pay the family 3 billion rubles ($34,592).

Among the benefits listed for those from Moscow serving in Ukraine was family support, which included “provision of free hot meals twice a day (breakfast and lunch) to schoolchildren from first to 11th grade” and “exemption from verification of metering devices - for those registered in Moscow or who own residential premises in Moscow.”

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The Ukrainian military regularly reports that Russian forces are resorting to ‘meat assaults,’ sending wounded or poorly trained fighters into battle as cannon fodder.

Sobyani’s office has also set up a dedicated recruitment page to entice recruits to sign up.

“Recruits who sign a contract to enter military service in Moscow are provided with full equipment and undergo training from the best instructors,” the site’s terms of service read, which is a likely bid to address earlier reports that some recruits were sent to the front with little to no training, sometimes no body armor.

The page said foreigners can also serve in the Russian military under a contract, but it’s unclear if they are also entitled to the same bonuses.

Other regions have offered similar sign-up bonuses, including 1 million rubles ($11,531) in Krasnodar Krai and 500,000 rubles ($5,765) in Dagestan.

The average monthly salary in Russia in July 2023was 71,419 rubles ($756), according to Reuters, citing data from Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). For reference, a brand-new Russian LADA sedan could cost as little as 699,900 rubles ($8,071).

Russia’s original 100,000-strong invasion force had grown to 520,000 as the war entered its third year, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief recently told the Guardian, with earlier reports believing that Russia has been covertly mobilizing 30,000 troops monthly to sustain its losses in Ukraine.

As of July 24, Ukraine assessed the level of Russian personnel casualties at 570,120, a figure that is largely supported by estimates made by a Defence Intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence.