Russia Offers IDR 375 Million In Rewards To Moscow Citizens To War In Ukraine, First Year's Salary Nearly One Billion

Russian/DOK/Alexey Military Conovov/TASS

JAKARTA - Authorities in the city of Moscow offer rewards for citizens willing to become new members to fight in Ukraine. This offer is a new effort to increase the number of Russian troops.

As discussed by CNN, financial sweeteners are budgeted as President Vladimir Putin struggles to recruit troops for his troops as Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine begins its third year.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin introduced a one-time signing bonus of 1.9 million rubles (approximately 22,000 US dollars or equivalent to Rp375 million) for residents of the city who joined the military.

Anyone who receives this offer will earn 5.2 million rubles (59,600 US dollars or equivalent to Rp968 million) in the first year.

Those willing to join the battle in Ukraine can also receive cash payments of around 5,690-11,390 US dollars for injuries depending on the severity. Meanwhile, the family of a soldier who died in the war received a fee of 34,150 US dollars.

Although the number of victims in Russia is still kept secret, it is estimated that the death toll among the army is quite high.

More than 70,000 soldiers were likely killed or injured in May and June, the UK defense ministry said in an update on July 12, when Russian troops faced heavy losses in new fronts in the Kharkiv region.

It is estimated that Russia has lost 87 percent of its active ground troops before launching an invasion of Ukraine and two-thirds of the tank prior to the invasion, said a source familiar with the unclassified US intelligence assessment given to Congress in December last year.

Social media is filled with video footage taken by drones showing Russian soldiers killed or sustained life-changing injuries in what the army calls the roof pangolin'' battle against Ukrainian defenders.

Ukrainian troops often talk about how their losing number faces so-called human-wave attacks from enemies whose commanders appear happy to tolerate a reduction in the number of brutal troops.

As the number of dead personnel increases, the Kremlin is looking everywhere to find fighters who will be sent to the front lines.

Putin has ordered his country's military to increase the number of troops by 170,000, which will make the total number of Russian military personnel to more than 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops, according to a decree published by the Kremlin in December.

This is equivalent to an increase in the number of Russian troops by 15 percent and marks the expansion of the second army since Putin launched an invasion.

Putin initially ordered a "partial mobilization" immediately against Russian citizens in September 2022 following a series of defeats that led to accusations of each other in Moscow.

This mobilization means that citizens who are military reserves can be called up and those who have military experience can be required to be conscripted.

The mandatory military campaign is launching widespread demonstrations, especially in the ethnic Russian minority region where mobilization efforts are concentrated and have sparked the exodus of military-age men leaving the country to avoid war.

Although the mobilization campaign was halted in November 2022 after officials said the target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met, Russia had recruited fighters beyond its borders to fight in Ukraine.

Russia has recruited 15,000 Nepalese to fight in Ukraine, and many of them are traumatized, while others are still missing or may be killed.

A Nepalese soldier who spoke to CNN said recruited soldiers from Afghanistan, India, Congo, and Egypt were among those trained at the Russian military academy for foreign fighters.