No More Money For War": Russia's Regions Significantly Decrease Z-Soldier Payments - The Russian Dude

[TexasTowelie]

This video breaks down how and why the Kremlin has quietly slashed contract soldier payments across Russia, in some regions by three to four times, signaling a deep crisis inside Russia’s war economy and recruitment system. For years, Moscow sold the war in Ukraine as financially profitable, using massive enlistment bonuses to lure desperate men into signing contracts. That system is now collapsing. Regional authorities in Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Mari El, Belgorod, Samara, Bashkiria, Yamal-Nenets and others have sharply reduced sign-up payments, even as the war grows longer, deadlier, and more unpopular. The same risks remain, but the money is disappearing, revealing massive budget deficits, collapsing oil and gas revenues, and trillions of rubles burned on recruitment with rapidly shrinking returns.

The video explains how Russia has effectively created a recruitment caste system, where the value of a soldier’s life depends on geography. Poorer, politically quiet regions see bonuses slashed first, while wealthier or strategically sensitive regions sometimes receive temporary increases. This exposes the lie of “voluntary” contracts and shows how the Kremlin treats its regions as expendable resources. As payments shrink, propaganda grows more aggressive, promising safe rear jobs, support roles, debt relief, and stability, even though contract soldiers are routinely reassigned to front-line combat. Despite a surge in advertising, contract signings in 2025 have dropped to their lowest level in two years, showing widespread exhaustion and loss of trust.

The video also outlines what comes next as money stops working: pressure, coercion, legal loopholes, forced contracts, suspended payments, recruitment quotas, and administrative intimidation. Cases like Yakutia, where bonuses were paused due to “budget uncertainty,” reveal a system that can’t predict demand for soldiers but keeps the war going anyway. These cuts are not simple budget adjustments. They are a confession that Russia can no longer afford to buy obedience. The Kremlin is transitioning from incentives to force, from bribery to threats, marking a darker and more dangerous phase of the war.