Joining Russian Army to Fight in Ukraine Allowing Some Russian Men to Evade Paying Court-Ordered Alimony

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 24 – Yet another group of victims of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine has emerged inside the Russian Federation: ex-wives who now find that their former husbands are typically able to evade paying court-ordered alimony and related child support if they join the Russian military to fight in Ukraine.
    The precise number is unknown, but there are currently some two million Russians who have been awarded alimony payments. And when women who have not received them have gone to court, they have failed in most cases, perhaps especially in cases where the former husband is now in the military (sibreal.org/a/resheno-s-svoshnikov-ne-vzyskivat-kak-sbezhat-ot-alimentov-na-voynu/33205567.html).
    Lawyers for these women say that the military command is uncooperative in many cases and certainly does not adjust the alimony payments when the incomes of the men jump as a result of the bonuses that those who agree to fight for Putin in Ukraine receive not only initially but for the length of their service.
    This situation is creating serious hardships for the former wives and the children involved, and this human tragedy is likely to have demographic consequences as well. Many Russian women may decide that it is too big a risk to give birth if their husbands can leave them, volunteer for the army, and then evade paying alimony.