Paul Goble
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some Russian troops sent there have been taking their weapons home, undermining unit effectiveness and boosting the amount of violent crime in Russia.
This trend has been exacerbated by the presence of a large number of criminals in the Russian forces as a result of Putin’s massive recruitment of men in prison to fight in Ukraine, and an effort by Russian troops to maintain the high incomes that Putin’s bonus system had allowed.
Today, Russian officials are alarmed because some soldiers appear to be taking weapons without much difficulty, an indication of problems in the military itself and a harbinger of more crime and potentially more political problems at home.
Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, some Russian troops have been stealing weapons from the Russian military in Ukraine and taking them back to the Russian Federation when released from service. This threatens unit cohesion and effectiveness in Ukraine and boosts the amount of violent crime at home (see EDM, November 29, 2022, February 25). The difficulties of recovering the weapons of demobilized soldiers have been a problem for many armies during or immediately after a conflict. This phenomenon is especially serious in the Russian case because many of the men now fighting for Moscow in Ukraine have criminal backgrounds and are serving there only because Putin has released them from prison if they agreed to serve in Ukraine (Window on Eurasia, June 28, 2024, August 21).
This reflects a deeper problem for Russian society. Russians are paid vast bonuses to join the war effort, and many veterans turn to a life of crime because there is a lack of well-paid work that would allow them to maintain the new lifestyles the sign-up bonuses provide (Window on Eurasia, May 16, June 6). Their readiness to turn to crime, therefore, is an effort to boost their incomes. The upsurge of crime has unsurprisingly alarmed ordinary citizens and Russian officials, and increased hostility toward veterans. Moscow has thus been compelled to take additional steps to curb the criminal behavior (Window on Eurasia, March 29, April 15, July 18, August 6; The Moscow Times, September 9).
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