Russia’s costly recruitment drive strains regional budgets
The mass recruitment into the Russian army is increasingly burdening taxpayers. According to estimates by German expert Janis Kluge, around 2 billion rubles are spent daily on bonuses for contract soldiers.
As per Kluge's estimates, about three-quarters (1.5 billion rubles, approximately 27 million CAD) are shouldered by regional authorities, who are compelled to allocate nearly 3 percent of their budgets to the recruitment campaign. The remaining portion—0.5 billion rubles—is financed by the federal budget.
The war is becoming increasingly costly. Russians are running out of money and people
Kluge's calculations reveal that the recruitment campaign currently brings 1,000 to 1,500 new soldiers into the army daily. The influx of "volunteers" remains consistent with the end of last year, even though mass hikes in regional bonuses have been halted. The average amount in 37 entities of the Russian Federation is now 1.4 million rubles (approximately 25,000 CAD).
Kluge's numbers indicate that the influx of contract soldiers has nearly doubled compared to the previous year and fully offsets the frontline losses, which NATO estimates at about 1,000 personnel daily.
Spending on the "recruitment machine" has increased almost fivefold compared to April 2024 and, if the current pace persists, by the end of the year will cost the Russian budget 730 billion rubles (approximately 13 billion CAD). This is half of the annual budget for the entire higher education system in the country (1.5 trillion rubles annually) and twice the annual expenditures on the national "Health" project, which amounts to 369 billion rubles this year.
the recruitment machine is stalling. Russia is consuming its reserves
Last year, the Russian Ministry of Defense managed to recruit 440,000 people for the war in Ukraine, averaging about 1,200 daily. However, according to George Barros, head of the Russia team at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Kremlin cannot maintain the current recruitment pace indefinitely. According to the expert, Russia still has 12 to 16 months to conduct military operations under the current circumstances.
According to ISW, additional bonuses will be impeded by budgetary constraints and the depletion of reserves in the National Wealth Fund. Over three years of war, the NWF's liquid assets have decreased threefold—by 106 billion USD (approximately 143 billion CAD), and the remaining available funds are about 40 billion USD, the lowest since the fund was established in 2008.
The soldier recruitment system operated smoothly for two and a half years, but now it is beginning to collapse, says Barros, adding: "Russia is constrained by the laws of economics and resource shortages. Moreover, Russia does not have unlimited human reserves."
