Putin signs debt relief decree for new Ukraine war recruits as Russia struggles to replace battlefield losses

The new decree

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday providing debt relief to new recruits for the war in Ukraine and their families. Under the law, individuals who sign a contract with the Russian defence ministry from May 1 of this year — and their spouses — will have outstanding debts of up to 10 million rubles (approximately $139,700 or €119,646) cancelled, provided a legal claim to collect those debts was in force before that date. The contract must be for at least one year and specifically for "fulfilling the tasks of the special military operation," the Kremlin's term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.

The contract to join the 'special military operation' should be signed for at least one year.

According to the Russian Cian real estate database, 10 million rubles is roughly the price of a 35-square-metre studio apartment in Moscow. The measure extends to the wives of new recruits, broadening the financial safety net for families considering enlistment.

Why debt relief now?

The debt cancellation is the latest in a series of increasingly generous incentives aimed at avoiding a formal new mobilization, which would carry delicate political consequences for Putin after the partial mobilization of 300,000 soldiers in September 2022. Western intelligence estimates cited by Der Tagesspiegel suggest that Russian losses have exceeded recruitment numbers since the beginning of 2026. The US think tank CSIS calculates that approximately 325,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the full-scale invasion, with Moscow needing an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 new recruits monthly to replace losses.

The debt relief is only the latest in a long chain of measures with which Russia is trying to cover its need for soldiers.

Reports describe troops with minimal training, poor equipment, and very low survival chances being used for frontal assaults on heavily fortified Ukrainian positions — a tactic the BBC has called the "meat grinder" approach, where high own losses are accepted for minimal territorial gains.

The economics of recruitment

Money remains the primary recruitment tool. According to Wall Street Journal research cited by Der Tagesspiegel, those who sign a contract receive a signing bonus of around 5,000 euros and a monthly base salary of at least 2,500 euros — up to five times the local average in Russia's poorest regions. The state currently provides a bonus of 400,000 rubles (approximately $4,500) for those agreeing to go to the front, though several regions have offered higher bonuses alongside incentives such as university admission for children.

A 35-year-old who fights for a year and then dies leaves his family more than he would have earned in the rest of his working life.

The Russian economist has termed this a "death economy." In poor regions like Tuva, bank deposits have reportedly risen by 151 percent since the war began. Families of fallen soldiers can receive total benefits of around 150,000 euros.

Additional measures signed

On the same day, Putin also signed a decree indefinitely extending rental rights for state land for those fighting in Ukraine. He has previously called for war veterans to be given prestigious positions upon returning from the front and priority when applying for universities or colleges. Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than four years, with military needs taking precedence over other sectors.

Putin also enacted a law allowing the deployment of armed forces outside Russia to protect Russian citizens facing justice in other countries. According to the head of the Russian parliament's defence committee, Andrey Kartapolov, the legislation would permit Moscow to intervene militarily in third countries where the liberty of Russian citizens is threatened by judicial processes conducted without Russia's permission. The law was reportedly inspired by cases like that of Russian architect Alexander Butyagin, arrested in Poland in December 2025 at Kyiv's request and later released in a prisoner exchange.

The wider context

The recruitment push comes as US-led peace talks have stalled, with each side accusing the other of seeking to escalate the conflict. Ukraine plans to send reinforcements to its northern regions to counter what it believes are Russian plans for a new offensive. The debt relief decree represents Moscow's attempt to sustain its military campaign without crossing the political red line of a full new mobilization.