Take your coat. Regions are reducing payments to contract soldiers of the SVO and moving to a peace agenda

Elena Petrova, Tatyana Sviridova

Since June 5, the regional payment to contract soldiers of the SVO in Bashkiria has been reduced from 1.6 million to 1 million rubles. Such a decreewas issued by the head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov. Those who signed a contract at the military registration and enlistment offices of Ufa will receive only half of this amount from the region instead of 1.2 million. The municipal payment remains unchanged for now. It is 700 thousand rubles.

Bashkiria is not the first federal subject to withdraw from the battle of regions for contract soldiers. In April, the government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug did not extend the decision to pay 3.1 million to each contract soldier and cut this amount to 1.9 million rubles.

Samara Region Governor Valery Fedorishchev, who in 2025 brought the region to first place in terms of payments to contract soldiers by offering 3.6 million to anyone who would go for the “ribbon,” ordered that 2.1 million be transferred to future SVO participants from February 23. The amount of 3.6 million, however, remains, but only for military personnel who decide to re-sign the contract.

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov halved the regional payment back in October 2024. Instead of 800 thousand, those who signed the contract in Belgorod began to receive 400 thousand.

This is exactly how much the Supreme Commander-in-Chief asked the subjects of the Federation to pay in August 2024, raising his share to 400 thousand rubles of a one-time benefit.

The amounts that regional budgets pay to the military are classified. It is known that in 2024, 450 thousand people signed a contract for military service. This figure was named by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who, on the instructions of the president, headed the interdepartmental commission for staffing the Russian Armed Forces with contract soldiers. The official expressed hope that the rate of recruitment of new fighters will be maintained in 2025.

Until 2025, the federal government assessed the work of regional heads based on how the plan for recruitment into the army on a contract basis was fulfilled. In 2022, one-time payments in the absolute majority of federal subjects did not exceed 100 thousand rubles. Over three years of military action, they have grown more than fivefold. In the same Bashkiria, they were paying 205 thousand rubles last July, and then during the year they raised it first to 505 thousand, and then, from the beginning of 2025, they multiplied this amount by three.

To fulfill the plan, governors lured future contract soldiers with benefits and land plots, but the main argument remained money. The year 2024 surpassed the previous two in the scope of the offer. Some regional leaders increased the size of the lifting allowance several times a year. The richest not only paid more than others, but also built a whole network of intermediaries, as was the case in Moscow. They offered not only the largest one-time allowance, but also a free ticket to the capital and accommodation for the duration of the contract.

The practice of rewarding those who persuaded relatives or acquaintances to go fight in Ukraine was actively used. Yaroslavl Governor Evraev wrote about this honestly in his Telegram channel.

There are several versions of why regions have started to reduce payments. The first of them is the fall in budget revenues. Moscow State University professor Natalia Zubarevich points out that in the constituent entities of the Federation, the first quarter of 2025 was difficult for both personal income tax and profit tax. It is these two taxes that largely form the revenue side of the budget, she says:

— Apparently, budget revenues are falling and they can no longer pay contractors so much. In terms of tax collection, the first quarter is not very good, many regions have seen a significant slowdown in the growth of personal income, there is a problem with profit tax, but not all regions. And, as a result, they are starting to save.

This is noticeable in Bashkiria. Here, the parameters of the regional treasury had to be revised. The budget deficit grew by 5.8 billion rubles , almost doubling to 9.8 billion rubles. The Chairman of the Republic's Parliament, Konstantin Tolkachev, said that the money had to be redistributed between budget items. And, although there was talk of allocating additional resources for SVO fighters, the fact remains that one-time payments for contract soldiers now have to be economized on.

The worst financial situation is in the Kemerovo Region. Due to the crisis in the Russian coal industry, Kuzbass closed 2024 with a deficit of 70.6 billion rubles . But this year has not improved either. Governor Ilya Seredyuk reported that in the first two months alone the budget hole crossed the 8 billion ruble mark.

"Most coal companies ended 2024 with losses, which means they were unable to pay taxes to the regional budget. We missed out on 58 billion rubles. We were forced to sequester the expenses we incurred in 2024, and postponed a number of obligations to 2025," the head of the region said on social media.

A deficit of 16.2 billion is planned for this year, but this is more of a budget fantasy. World coal prices have reached a historic low, and Kuzbass has nowhere to sell its main commodity due to sanctions.

Back in September 2024, one-time payments to contract soldiers from the Kemerovo Region increased to 800 thousand rubles. Now they amount to 400 thousand. Without much publicity, the regional authorities have reduced their participation in the recruitment of military personnel for the SVO by half.

However, there may be enough people willing to leave for the "ribbon". Kuzbass is threatened with restructuring. This is what the government calls the closure of mines. 15 thousand miners live under the threat of losing their jobs. And, although the trade unions hope that people will not be abandoned and will even be resettled, this is not a quick and difficult process and families need to be fed until they move or resolve the issue of a new job.

Without the consent of the federal center, these measures would hardly have been possible. The fact that more than one or two regions are cutting funding may indicate the beginning of preparations for peaceful life.

A source close to the Ministry of Finance told Novye Izvestia that the government is currently tightening control over national projects and their implementation in the regions. A total of 19 national projects worth a total of 40 trillion rubles must be completed by 2030. However, regional budgets are required not only to spend federal money, but also to contribute their share to their implementation.

In Russia's national projects, the main funding is divided between the federal budget and the budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as extra-budgetary sources (for example, private investments and funds from state companies). The proportions may differ depending on the specific national project, direction, region and stage of implementation, but there is a general picture: regions, territories and republics are required to invest their own money.

The federal center allocates from 65% to 75% of the necessary funds, another 5-15% comes from private investors or off-budget funds. But up to a quarter of the amount is contributed by the subjects of the Federation. And if up to 90% of the money for "Healthcare", "Education" and "Demography" came from Moscow, then for housing and roads the regions have to dig much deeper into their pockets.

We are talking about trillions of rubles in total. In 2024, Moscow paid 7 trillion out of more than 10 trillion, and the regions paid 1.5-2 trillion. With falling incomes, the contribution is significant.

The center has its own logic. Everything that concerns payments to contract soldiers is an initiative of the subjects of the Federation, obligations that the regions have taken on voluntarily. The implementation of national projects requires strict responsibility of both regional budgets and governors. Since the federal budget is in deficit, there is nowhere to get additional money now.

Therefore, our source says, regional authorities, without completely abandoning one-time payments, are shifting priorities. And the main one for governors is again social policy.

The change in mood among the top brass does not surprise political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov:

— It always happens like this with us: where it’s thinnest, it breaks. And where it can break, that’s where they ask. When contract soldiers were needed in large numbers, it was necessary to plug holes at the front, governors were asked about this. And now we need to solve socio-economic problems, some national projects have to be curtailed because of holes in the budget, falling oil prices, so governors are now being actively burdened with this.

However, there are regions that can easily take on more contract workers. The latest data on Moscow budget revenues, unlike other regions, are more than encouraging. In the first quarter, the capital received 1 trillion in taxes from individual entrepreneurs alone, improving the 2024 figures by 9.3%.

But the number of donors in the country is not increasing.