Two-Thirds of Men Volunteering in Moscow to Fight in Ukraine aren’t Residents of the Capital, ‘Vyorstka’ Investigation Concludes

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 13 – Moscow has sought to reverse the decline in the number of residents signing up to fight in Ukraine by boosting payments to those who do to over five million rubles (50,000 US dollars) both for joining and then serving in the military (50,000 US dollars). That effort has worked and Moscow is now providing roughly its share of them relative to population.

            Over the last year, 26,000 men have signed up for service in Moscow, compared to 300,000 for the Russian Federation as a whole. But unlike elsewhere, those signing up from Moscow aren’t Muscovites but people from beyond its borders, the Vyorstka news agency says (verstka.media/moskva-za-god-otpravila-na-vojnu-bolee-26-tysyach-chelovek-e-iz-nih-priezzhie).

            Its analysts conclude that only about 30 percent of those signing up in Moscow are Muscovites. The rest are from other poorer Russian regions or abroad, and overwhelmingly they are signing up there to get the money the city government is offering rather than from any ideological commitment, despite official statements to the contrary.

            That means that the competition among regions to get men to sign up has further reduced the links between the men and the military they join to a cash nexus, an arrangement that Moscow can win because it is better off financially but one that hardly bodes well for the long-term future of the military.

            For background on this interregional competition and the consequences for the poorer regions and republics, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/08/in-boosting-bonuses-for-those-who-sign.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/04/poorer-federal-subjects-forced-to-use.html.