A study by Novaya-Europe found that the scale of state support for participants in Russia’s war against Ukraine is on average nine times greater than aid for large families and three times higher than support for people with first-degree disabilities. After contract bonuses were cut in autumn 2025, many regions raised them again in 2026, often back to previous levels.
In autumn 2025, several regions sharply reduced payments for signing contracts with the Defense Ministry: Tatarstan from 2.7 million rubles to 400,000, Orenburg region and Mari El from 2.2 million to 400,000, Saratov region to 450,000, Chuvashia and Samara region to 400,000, Ulyanovsk region to 500,000, and Bashkortostan to 600,000. In St. Petersburg, the 1.6 million ruble gubernatorial payment for BARS volunteer units was canceled without prior notice.
In 2026, nearly all regions that had previously cut the payouts, except Ulyanovsk region, increased them again. They were joined by Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Volgograd, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Bryansk and Oryol regions, Krasnodar Territory, and St. Petersburg. Every region that raised contract payments in 2026 approved a deficit budget; together those deficits total 393 billion rubles.
“Poor regions have nothing to lose. All budget holes will sooner or later be covered by the federal center,” defense policy expert Pavel Luzin said.
According to the outlet, the average regional signing bonus has reached a record 1.6 million rubles, although the pace of growth has slowed. Monthly military pay of 210,000 rubles is 3.2 times higher than Russia’s average wage and in some regions 4 to 4.5 times higher. Additional benefits include compensation for injury and death, as well as housing, transport, food, gasification, education, and medical support.
Novaya-Europe notes that even the maximum package of incentive payments for a doctor in Leningrad region totals 2.42 million rubles for a year, while the one-time contract payment there is 3.55 million rubles. The authors stress that their index reflects not actual budget spending, but the relative scale of declared support measures.