Short of Cash, Russia’s Federal Subjects Begin Cutting Back Bonuses to Get Men to Sign Up for Service in Putin’s War in Ukraine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 5 – Bashkortostan has become the first federal subject to do what others are expected to copy: it has cut back the amount of money it offers men who agree to sign up for military service in Ukraine from 1.2 million rubles (12,000 US dollars) to 600,000 rubles (6,000 US dollars).

            The republic has done so because it can’t afford to do otherwise – its own budget is overstretched and its access to federal reserves limited; but such a cutback, especially if it is copied by other federal subjects  means the Russian military will have more difficulty in getting the men it needs (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=683FFF581FB1A).

            That point is made explicitly by the Economics telegram channel which says that the UFA  case is “not simply a regional measure but a symbol of a broader economic trend” reflecting “the exhaustion of reserves, limited budget resources and a gradual transition to a regime of strict savings.”

            And that in turn is “a signal that the country’s financial stability increasingly depends not on savings but on reducing obligations to citizens,” a shift that means the war is going to come home to Russians in ever more serious ways and thus put pressure on the Kremlin to end the war as soon as possible or at least not to engage in new aggression anytime soon.