Russia concerned about costs of continuing war in Ukraine – ISW

Russia is concerned about the costs of continuing the war in Ukraine, – ISW Diana Kvasnevskaya

Russia is concerned about the economic cost of continuing the war in Ukraine. In particular, Russian soldiers may be forced to return one-time payments for violating discipline.

24 Kanal writes, citing ISW, that the corresponding bill was submitted on November 22 by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

What is known about Russia's concerns over payments to occupiers

Analysts explained that the bill of the Russian Ministry of Defense obliges Russian servicemen to return one-time payments from signing Russian military contracts in the event of a “gross disciplinary offense” or evasion of military service by servicemen.

Moreover, even Putin recently said that he is concerned about Russia's long-term economic stability, including due to the reduction in payments to Russian soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

The Russian Defense Ministry likely wants the bill to encourage better discipline among Russian troops, especially since Russian servicemen continue to publicly complain about the Russian military command's poor treatment of their soldiers.

At the same time, Russian dictator Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia should not carry out another partial forced conscription into the reserves, since the Russian government continues to lean toward crypto-mobilization efforts. According to him on November 23, 2024:

• Kremlin officials are not yet discussing a second round of mobilization,
• Russia is still recruiting a sufficient number of contract volunteers.

Other Russian authorities continue to encourage further recruitment of contract soldiers for the war.

Vladimir Putin on November 23 signed a law that allows Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine to have loans written off in the amount of up to 10 million rubles (about $95,869) if Russian courts open debt collection cases before December 1, 2024, which, will probably encourage Russians with existing debts to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, ISW explained.

They added that a Russian so-called mil blogger posted an ad for recruitment for military service in Russian Airborne Forces units in several regions of Russia, promising to cover the recruits' travel expenses to sign contracts.

They also offered one-time payments of 2.5 million rubles (about $23,967) for contracts signed in the Tula region, 3 million rubles (about $28,760) for contracts in the Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod regions, and 2.1 million rubles (about $20,132) for contracts concluded in the Leningrad region areas.