"Lifetime pension and health resort": media found out what Russian Federation promises to fighters of "volunteer battalions" in Ukraine

UKRAINSKA PRAVDA — WEDNESDAY, 17 AUGUST 2022, 15:42

Russian authorities continue to form "volunteer battalions" in various regions to be sent to Ukraine, promising the participants lifetime pensions for all family members, sanatoriums, successful enrollment in universities for their children, and 10 million rubles of compensation for every combat wound or death.

Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza with reference to the audio recording from a meeting of potential volunteers with the military commissariat in Tomsk Oblast of Russia

Details: One of the employees of an enterprise in Tomsk Oblast passed the media a recording of the meeting with military commissariat representatives; they urged the people of Tomsk to become members of the "Toian" battalion.

According to the source of Meduza, they were offered to sign a contract for six months and join the rear of Russian forces in Ukraine on a voluntary basis. The recruits in these battalions are men aged 18 to 60 who do not have medical contraindications. The military commissariat noted that the service will be especially "tempting" for those who have not served their full term in the army, or whose contracts have been terminated by the Ministry of Defence of Russia or the Russian Guard (Rosgvardia).

Quote: "We are also considering such candidates, even with a lifted, cancelled article (criminal record - ed.)

The battalion is being formed very quickly now.  Recruitment will stop in about a week, possibly ten days, because the candidates are coming. Recruitment is going fast, fast."

Details: The military commissariat gave those present a "100 percent" guarantee that the "Toian" service will take place only in the rear, and no one will send volunteers to the front line, as "this is stipulated in the contract."

Quote: "The task of this battalion is to provide rear support for the vital activities of the military unit, material and technical support.  We are recruiting cooks, welders, electricians, drivers, bathroom and laundry service personnel, etc. There are actually a lot of positions, all of them related to material and technical support.  This is the kind of battalion we’ve got."

Details: Judging by the audio record of the meeting, they will undergo at least two weeks of training before being sent to Ukraine. Participants are provided with uniforms, and "they will be introduced to the equipment and facilities where the service takes place."

Military servicemen are promised to be paid about 220,000 rubles (133,000 UAH (equiv. USD 3 599)) every month. The sum is calculated based on the rank and allowances from the regional authorities.

Further, according to Meduza, the volunteers are promised the status of combatants and all appropriate benefits, including lifetime pension, annual resort treatment for themselves and their families, as well as out-of-competition enrollment of children in budget places at universities. Volunteers are also assured that if they return, they will be immediately reinstated at work.

In case of injury, the military commissariat offers a volunteer about 5-10 million rubles (equiv. USD 82 500-165 000), and in case of death - 5 million rubles from the President of the Russian Federation, insurance of about 3 900 000 rubles (equiv. USD 64 400) and another payment of about 3 million rubles (equiv. USD 49 500). 

Besides, according to the representative of the military commissariat, a "special forces" battalion is being formed in Novosibirsk Oblast, but residents of Tomsk Oblast cannot join it.

Background: 

•  In July, Oleksii Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said that Russia had launched a covert mobilisation, forming the so-called "volunteer battalions."
• Analysts of the Institute for the Study of War named four oblasts in Russia in which volunteer battalions are being formed for the war in Ukraine; these are Novosibirsk, Saratov, Ulyanovsk and Kurgan oblasts.

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