Russia Plans to Recruit at Least 225,000 People on Contract with the Defense Ministry in the Next Three Years

The Russian authorities have allocated 90 billion rubles — 30 billion rubles annually — for one-time payments for the signing of a contract with the Defense Ministry. This is specified in the draft expenditures of the federal budget for 2025–2027.

Now the one-time federal payment for the contract signing is 400 thousand rubles. Vladimir Putin raised it to this level on July 31, 2024, previously it was 195 thousand. If the payment remains unchanged, the 90 billion rubles will be enough to recruit 225 thousand new contract soldiers in three years. If they pay 195 thousand rubles for the contract signing, as it was before, it will make it possible to recruit 461.5 thousand people.

The amount planned in the budget may increase. Thus, in the first half of 2024, the authorities have already spent more than 32 billion rubles on one-time payments to new contract soldiers. This is more than budgeted for the whole of next year.

Previously, IStories reported that the Defense Ministry’s data on the number of new contractors may be overstated by one and a half times. By April 2024, the ministry reported 640 thousand new contractors, while only 426 thousand Russians received payment for contracting. In 2024, the rate of contract recruitment increased at least six times: in the first half of 2023, Russians signed 26.7 thousand new contracts, and in the first half of 2024 — more than 166 thousand. In the second half of 2023, the rate of recruitment of contract soldiers increased significantly — at least 345 thousand people signed contracts during the year.