If a new bill prepared by the federal government is passed, the bank loans and utility debts of veterans of the war in Ukraine and their spouses will be written off upon receiving a state award or being discharged at the end of their military service.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has requested data from draft offices on naturalized citizens who have not registered for military service. It is worth noting that, on Aug. 8, Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill which allows for the revocation of acquired Russian citizenship from those who fail to register at a draft office within two weeks of their residential registration. The Ministry also reported that, in the first eight months of the year, it had revoked the citizenship of 1,117 naturalized individuals due to their "unlawful actions." Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies continue to conduct raids targeting migrants and naturalized citizens in several regions across the country. These actions, combined with slow processing times...
Avito, Russia's largest classified advertisements website, now features job vacancies for contract soldiers to serve in the Kursk region. The ZOV Rodiny [Motherland Calls] account began publishing these at the end of August, seeking to recruit signallers and tank crews, among others. The addresses listed in the ads match those of draft offices in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. Candidates are promised an official contract with the Ministry of Defense, a 275,000 ruble [$3,040] monthly salary and "work in a team of highly qualified specialists." When contacted by the Vyorstka media outlet, the recruiter indicated that they were urgently seeking drivers, UAV operators and military personnel...
The federal government has clarified the rules for military personnel’s travel expenses. Service members, including military pensioners and family members, will be entitled to financial compensation if they use a personal car to travel on secondment or leave.
The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia should be responsible for information security certification of the Unified Military Register, according to a proposed amendment to the government resolution on the register of Russians subject to military service [digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices]. The ministry’s press service indicated that the amendment would not impact citizens or draft offices, adding that the amendment is required because it is responsible for the technical implementation based on requirements from the Ministry of Defense. The register is expected to become operational on Nov. 1, 2024.
Recruiters in Russia are now attempting to lure citizens into joining the invasion by promising employment in state corporations, writes the Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet, pointing to a number of advertisements on online job boards. Posing as aspiring contract soldiers, its journalists have also spoken with the representatives of several recruiting firms to confirm the details. Thus, Metroelektrotrans in Kazan and Mosgortrans in Moscow are among the employers promising jobs to military personnel returning from the war. Some organizations are only offering jobs to contract soldiers for the duration of their military service, including Rosneft and Mosvodokanal, who offer a 1.9 million-ruble [$21,440] sign-up bonus...
The federal government has introduced a bill into the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia], which would grant officials of the Investigative Committee and prosecutors, who worked in Syria or the occupied territories of Ukraine, the status of combat veterans.
The Pervy Otdel [First Department] human rights project reports that Aleksandr Matkheev, a 26-year-old resident of Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic] suffering from a mental disorder, who was sentenced last April to 10 years in a penal colony for attempting to join the "Freedom of Russia Legion," is planning to join the war against Ukraine as a cook. The project’s legal experts note, however, that Russian citizens convicted of treason cannot legally be released to fight in the war. Earlier, the independent Russian media outlet Mediazona reported in detail on the case against Matkheev, who likely fell victim to a frame-up by law enforcement officials.
Effective Sept. 1, the Sverdlovsk region increased the sign-up bonus for joining the military under a contract to 1 million rubles [$11,000]. This summer, regional authorities raised the amount twice: on June 17, the amount went up from 100,000 rubles [$1,100] to 400,000 rubles [$4,400], and in early August, another 100,000 rubles [$1,100] was added. In addition, on Aug. 8, the Yekaterinburg city administration introduced an additional bonus of 100,000 rubles [$1,100], which was raised to 200,000 rubles [$2,200] in recent days. Therefore, taking into account the federal payout, a person who signs a contract with the Ministry of Defence in the region’s capital starting Sept. 1, will receive a total of 1.6 million rubles [$17,600].
According to the tally by the Zebra TV Telegram channel, the number of people who signed military contracts in the Vladimir region decreased by a quarter in August, with 157 recruits heading to war—50 fewer than in July. August 2024 marked the fifth-lowest recruitment month for the region. Journalists suggest that the decline may be linked to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin's introduction of a 1.9 million ruble [$20,800] sign-up bonus for concluding contracts with the Ministry of Defense in the capital at the end of July. It is likely that some recruits from the Vladimir region opted to enlist in Moscow instead. Notably, as reported by the Vyorstka media outlet, the number of those willing to sign contracts in Moscow doubled at the...