Border region offers those enlisting in military highest bonus in Russia

Authorities in Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region, located on the border with Ukraine, have offered a record one-time payment of 3 million rubles (€28,400) to those wishing to enlist in the military, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Monday.

Gladkov said the increased payouts — some 2.2 million rubles (€20,800) higher than the previous figure — would only be available from 7 October to 31 December, adding that residents of other Russian regions could also enlist at Belgorod recruitment offices.

The previous record-holder was the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district in the Urals, which offered a 2.75-million-ruble (€26,000) payout to everyone enlisting for the war in Ukraine earlier this month.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree in July raising the lump-sum payment offered to new military recruits enlisting to fight in Ukraine by the end of the year to 400,000 rubles (€4,300 at the time), in addition to signing off bonuses determined by Russian regions.

When Russia announced a mass draft effort in September 2022, the lump sum payment was set at 195,000 rubles (€3,421 at the time). Since then, it has relied on voluntary enlistment, gradually raising payments for those signing a contract with the Defence Ministry.

Putin announced in September that the Russian Armed Forces were to increase their ranks by a further 180,000 troops, bringing the total number of active servicemen to 1.5 million.

The routine autumn conscription campaign is also ongoing in Russia, with the Defence Ministry planning to enlist 133,000 conscripts required to perform a year of military service. Despite Putin vowing that inexperienced soldiers would not take part in combat operations, there has been a growing number of media reports of conscripts being sent into combat in Russia’s southwestern Kursk region to tackle the Ukrainian army’s ongoing incursion there.