More than half of Russia’s regions are now paying cash bonuses to people who recruit contract soldiers for the war against Ukraine, with some offering up to 1 million rubles ($22,200) per recruit as volunteer enlistment continues to slow. By August 2026, 56 Russian regions had introduced recruitment rewards, up from 31 regions a year earlier, according to the analysis conducted by The Moscow Times. The sharpest increase came in the heavily subsidized Smolensk region, where recruiter bonuses jumped nearly tenfold.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. In 38 regions, the payments are backed by official regional or municipal programs through governors’ decrees and government resolutions. Another 19 regions reportedly rely on private recruiting agencies to distribute the bonuses. “Governors begin pressuring businesses to contribute money to special funds because they need it for recruitment,” Sergei Krivenko, head of the human rights group Citizen. Army. Law, told The Moscow Times. He said the payments appear to be financed outside the federal budget and are disguised under other spending categories. Several regions raised recruiter bonuses this year, with Smolensk increasing payments from 115,000 rubles ($2,550) to 1 million rubles ($22,200). The region also boosted signing bonuses for contract soldiers from 1.6 million rubles (about $20,000) to 2.1 million rubles (about $26,000) Other regions that increased recruiter incentives include Samara, Ryazan, Saratov, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo and the Altai Republic.