Writing off debts: Russia’s new army recruitment strategy
Vladimir Putin has signed a new law to write off the loans of fresh recruits to the war. This latest preferential credit scheme is clearly intended to lure as many people as possible to the front line.
- According to the newly-signed law, military personnel who sign up after Dec. 1, 2024 will be able to write off loans worth up to 10 million rubles (about $96,000). Other servicemen, including conscripts, can apply to write off their debts if a court order to collect the money came into force before this date.
- For those who are currently fighting, or have previously fought in Ukraine, Russia also offers other forms of preferential borrowing. Banks are obliged to write off any loans taken out by soldiers killed or seriously injured, as well as those issued to their immediate family. And all soldiers can receive “credit holidays” while serving at the front.
- Based on the data on credit holidays analyzed by Mediazona, Russian army recruitment is steaming ahead at a record pace. From July to September alone, banks issued 54,200 credit holidays for those fighting in Ukraine, including to both conscripts and contract soldiers — almost twice as many as in the equivalent period last year.
- The new law is clearly another way of encouraging conscripts to sign contracts with the army, allowing them to be sent to right in Ukraine, lawyers believe.
Why the world should care
Russian regions have already this year hiked sign-up bonuses to new recruits, offering payments worth millions of rubles (tens of thousands of dollars), in a bid to fill-up Russia’s brigades.This new “carrot” of writing off Russians’ debts will help Moscow recruit even more soldiers and carry on accounting for massive human losses at the front.
