Russia providing to forgive previous money owed in scramble for recruits keen to combat in Ukraine: Report

The Kremlin says it will write off almost $95,000 worth of personal debt for new military recruits willing to fight on the front line in Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, now approaching its third bloody yet inconclusive year.

The latest financial inducement to help the military fill the ranks was authorized last month after the Russian Federal Assembly passed a new law. A spouse’s debt would also be covered and the offer is in addition to any other loan repayment plan for military personnel.

“Russia’s financial incentives to military recruits are almost certainly intended to secure sufficient replacements for their steadily increasing casualties, now totaling over 760,000 killed and injured, and averaging 1,523 a day in November 2024,” British military officials said Tuesday on X.

However, Ukraine also is facing chronic challenges with military recruiting as it defends a 750-mile-long front line against constant battering by larger Russian forces in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Moscow’s new financial incentives are “almost certainly” intended to reduce the potential for any large-scale mobilization which would likely damage public support for the war and could result in increased emigration out of Russia, British officials said in their latest assessment of the battlefield in Ukraine.

U.K. intelligence analysts said forgiving loan repayments for new military recruits will result in increased financial pressures on Russian financial institutions into 2025.

“This will almost certainly reduce the resilience of the banking sector to respond to a potential economic shock,” they said.