Russian regions are cutting back on bonus payments for contract soldiers signing up to fight in Ukraine

Russian regions are reducing one-off bonuses for contract soldiers signing up to fight in Ukraine, marking a decline in payments since 2025. The trend began when ten regions lowered their signing bonuses in the autumn of that year. Notable reductions occurred in the Irkutsk and Sverdlovsk regions, followed by a more recent cut in the Irkutsk region itself.

Mordovia experienced one of the sharpest cuts, dropping the lump-sum payment from 3 million rubles to 800,000 within a month. The regional finance ministry cited "limited budget resources" as the reason, yet the head of the republic demanded payment resumption. In September, the Irkutsk Region further reduced its bonus from 2.1 million to 1.8 million rubles, emphasizing the need to meet military recruitment targets.

Other regions, such as Kuzbass, also cut payments due to budget deficits. However, some regions like Sverdlovsk have recently reduced their payments from 2.7 million to 2.5 million rubles. The mass reduction of bonuses was first observed in October 2025, with at least nine regions cutting payments that month. Tatarstan, Mari El, and Chuvashia also reduced their bonuses, while other regions like Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, and Orenburg followed suit.

Despite persistent personnel shortages at the front, the situation with contract military service has markedly changed from 2024 and the first half of 2025, when regions competed by raising enlistment bonuses. Currently, some 234,000 people have signed Defense Ministry contracts between January and August 2026, compared to 260,000 in the same period of 2025, reflecting a roughly 10% decrease.