Moscow is increasing its efforts to expand the ranks of its army. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting debt relief to new recruits of the Russian army engaged in the conflict in Ukraine, as well as their spouses, the Kremlin declared on Monday May 25. A measure which is part of a broader set of incentives intended to strengthen military personnel in a context of bogged down war.
According to the decree published on the Kremlin website, people who signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry as of May 1 are exempt from their debts – up to 10 million rubles (about $139,700) – if recovery procedures are in place. already in progress before this date. The text also provides for the cancellation of credit obligations for contract soldiers and their families in the event of death or serious injury at the front.
The contract for engagement in the “special military operation”, the name given by Moscow to the invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, must be signed for a minimum period of one year. The debt cancellation corresponds to amounts close to the price of a small home in the Russian capital, according to real estate estimates cited by the press, specifies Reuters.
A long list of benefits
This initiative comes in addition to a series of advantages, listed by our colleagues at euronews, already granted to fighters and their loved ones: high recruitment bonuses, increased salaries, mortgage loans at preferential rates, or even easier access to higher education for military personnel and their children. Enlistment in the army is thus presented, in fact, as a lever for improving living conditions. According to Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, 164 laws aimed at supporting fighters have been adopted over the past four years.
The Kremlin has gradually expanded these support measures for the war effort, while peace negotiations remain stalled and the conflict is bogged down. Each side accuses the other of seeking to escalate the conflict, and Ukraine plans to send reinforcements to its northern regions to counter what it sees as Russian plans for a new offensive.
417,000 contract soldiers would have been recruited in 2025
In 2024, Moscow announced that it wanted to increase its military strength to 1.5 million soldiers by 2026. But the rate of daily recruitment would tend to slow down compared to the previous year. According to The Moscow Times417,000 contract soldiers would have been recruited in 2025. For its part, the German wave estimates that between 800 and 1,000 people still signed a contract each day during the first three months of 2026, around 20% less than over the same period in 2025.
At the same time, observers speak of an intensification of pressure on certain groups, notably students, sometimes encouraged to sign a military contract in the event of academic difficulties. Organizations and media, such as Kyiv Postalso report summons of reservists presented as simple administrative updates, followed on the spot by proposals for engagement. Between material incentives and more diffuse constraints, these measures reflect a strategy of attrition, while Vladimir Putin seems to be part of a logic of a long war and lasting maintenance of troops on the Ukrainian front.
