Russia has sharply increased payments for recruiting soldiers for the war
By August 2026, 56 Russian regions were already paying rewards for recruiting contract soldiers to fight in the war against Ukraine. Nearly a year ago, such payments were in effect in only 31 regions.
In 38 of the 56 regions, recruitment incentives are provided for under official regional or municipal programs. The payments are enshrined in government resolutions, gubernatorial decrees, and executive orders.
In another 18 regions, payments are made unofficially through recruitment agencies.
The Smolensk Region has raised its recruitment incentives the most. Whereas recruiters previously received 115,000 rubles, the amount has now risen to 1 million rubles.
At the same time, the region increased payments directly to contract soldiers—from 1.6 million to 2.1 million rubles.
In 2026, the Samara, Ryazan, Saratov, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, and Kemerovo regions, as well as the Altai Republic, also increased payments to recruiters.
According to Sergei Kryvenko, director of the human rights group “Citizen. Army. Law,” some of the funds may come from businesses.
“The governor is starting to put pressure on companies and businesses: ‘Come on, chip in to this fund—I need it for recruitment. Obviously, this is federal money. There’s no such line item in the budget or in the law at all. They’re disguising it as some kind of activity,” he explained.
The conditions for receiving the reward vary by region. Some areas pay anyone who brings in a contract soldier, while others provide such payments only to employees of government agencies.
At the same time, the amounts may vary depending on the recruiter’s category.
For example, in the Kemerovo Region, law enforcement officers previously received 91,954 rubles for each contract soldier recruited, while civilians received 114,943 rubles. In 2026, these payments were equalized.
In the Smolensk and Ryazan regions, as well as in Ufa and Blagoveshchensk, anyone can receive the reward regardless of their place of employment.
In contrast, in the Magadan Region, only employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Guard, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the bailiff service, and local government bodies receive a payment of 40,000 rubles.
Some municipalities are also introducing additional payments on top of the regional ones. In particular, such programs are in place in Engels, Saratov Oblast, and the Aktanishsky District of Tatarstan.
In some regions, the compensation depends on the place of registration of the potential contract soldier. Because of this, recruiting people from other regions of Russia or from abroad can be significantly more profitable.
For example, in the Ryazan Region, starting August 1, 2026, a recruiter can receive 804,598 rubles for a resident of another Russian region or a foreigner from a country outside the CIS.
For a resident of the Ryazan Region itself, the payment is only 57,471 rubles, and for a contract soldier from a CIS country, 80,460 rubles.
In Blagoveshchensk, Amur Oblast, the payment for a local resident is 115,000 rubles, while for a person without local registration, it is 230,000 rubles.
In the Sverdlovsk Region, the difference is even more significant: 34,500 rubles are allocated for a resident of the region, while 450,000 rubles are paid for a non-resident or a foreigner.
Krivenko believes that the Russian authorities are stepping up recruitment in an effort to avoid another mobilization.
“If recruitment fails, a mobilization will be carried out. That is precisely why the regions have now been instructed to conduct aggressive recruitment, and the state is turning a blind eye to violations of the law during forced recruitment,” the human rights activist stated.
Economist Dmitry Nekrasov believes that the current level of payments is not yet the limit of what the Russian budget can afford.
“Even a million rubles isn’t the limit. That’s still a small fraction of the total cost per contract soldier. So, in my opinion, the limit is still far off. There will be enough money, at least in the near term. There are people who won’t enlist under any circumstances, and there are those who won’t agree to five but will agree to twenty-five. Therefore, there is room here for further increases in payments; it’s simply a matter of finding a new balance,” he noted.
At the same time, the “recruitment race” is taking place against the backdrop of a decline in the number of people willing to sign contracts.
According to estimates by German economist Janis Klug, the recruitment of contract soldiers into the Russian army has fallen to its lowest level in the past three years.
In the first half of the year, Russian regions, according to Dmitry Medvedev, who is in charge of recruiting volunteers, managed to enlist about 200,000 contract soldiers. This is approximately 5% less than the figure Medvedev cited a year earlier.
Amid recruitment challenges, Russian regions are resorting not only to financial incentives but also to coercive methods.
According to Kryvenko, in July 2026, “roundups” of men took place in the Penza region; he said they were forced to sign contracts to participate in the war against Ukraine.
Human rights activists have also documented similar cases in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, as well as in the Rostov, Amur, and Novosibirsk regions.
Thus, the Russian authorities are simultaneously increasing financial incentives for recruiters and contract soldiers while intensifying pressure on the population in an effort to maintain the pace of army recruitment without announcing a new large-scale mobilization.
This is evidenced by a tally by The Moscow Times.
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