Russian wives turn to search engines amid lucrative war payouts
Russian women have begun searching online en masse for ways to send their husbands to war, reports the portal ura.ru. This surge is related to the increase in one-time payments for signing a contract. There has also been a significant rise in searches for: "how to send an ex to the special war operation zone."
Following the increase in regional and federal payments for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense in July and August, the number of searches on Yandex for the phrase "how to send a husband to the special war operation zone/to war" has dramatically increased, according to an analysis of search statistics.
They want to send their husbands and exes to war
In July 2023, there were, on average, fewer than 200 such inquiries per month nationwide. However, a year later, in July and August 2024, interest grew more than 20-fold, averaging about five thousand monthly inquiries.
Putin tempts with money
At the same time, payments for volunteers increased on average fivefold. On July 31, Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing federal one-time payments from 195,000 to 400,000 rubles (approximately CAD 6,740 to CAD 13,830). The Kremlin recommended that regions additionally pay at least the same amount.
As a result, volunteers signing a contract could receive an average of one million rubles upfront, which is about CAD 34,470 – estimated the portal "Important Stories."
This amount is equivalent to a year and a half of work for an average Russian salary.
In October 2024, a search query on Yandex also appeared: "how to send an ex to a special war operation zone." Russians entered this 2,314 times in October and 2,207 times in November.
In July, Russian media reported that the authorities of Tatarstan in Russia were the first in the country to offer money in exchange for "recruiting" their relatives, friends, and acquaintances for the war with Ukraine. They promised to pay 100,000 rubles per recruit, approximately CAD 3,450.
Huge losses on the front
The highest compensation, reaching 3 million rubles (approximately CAD 103,410), is paid in the Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod regions, where 2.6 million comes from local budgets and 400,000 from federal funds. In Moscow, the amount is 2.3 million rubles (approximately CAD 79,280), and in St. Petersburg, 2.1 million rubles (approximately CAD 72,690). The lowest payment from regional and federal budgets is 800,000 rubles.
Regions are increasing compensation for joining contract service to replenish the ranks of the army, which, according to Western intelligence, has lost over 600,000 people (killed and wounded) in Ukraine.
