The decree was signed on September 10, according to the regional legal information portal, which was flagged by Verstka. Foreigners and stateless persons have for the first time been placed in a separate and most expensive category. Previously the maximum sum stood at 400,000 rubles regardless of the recruited person's citizenship.
The Irkutsk region has been paying for assistance in attracting contract soldiers since at least April. Over the past seven months the reward has grown almost fourfold, from 400,000 to 1.5 million rubles.
Other regions have also raised their rates. The Smolensk region increased its payment from 115,000 to 1 million rubles for bringing in any person, while the Ryazan region raised its reward from 575,000 to 805,000 rubles for a foreigner from outside the CIS or a Russian from another region.
Foreigners began to be actively recruited in early 2025, when the flow of Russian volunteers fell, Verstka writes. Besides money, according to the outlet, they are forced to sign contracts through coercion and threats of deportation.
A month earlier, The Moscow Times calculated that by August, rewards to recruiters were being paid by 56 Russian regions, against 31 a year earlier. In 38 regions the payments are enshrined in official programs, while in 18 they go through recruiting agencies.
Sergei Krivenko, director of the human rights group Citizen. Army. Law, told The Moscow Times that governors are pressuring enterprises and businesses with demands to chip in to funds for recruitment. According to him, no such expenditure line exists in either the budget or the legislation, and the money is evidently not federal. He also stated: if recruitment does not work, mobilization will be carried out.
Contract recruitment is falling. According to Janis Kluge, a researcher at the Institute for International Security Problems, recruitment rates have declined by 10% this year, and in August compared with August 2025 by 20%. On average in August, 1,000 people signed contracts per day, according to his data cited by TV Rain.
Russian authorities also acknowledge the decline. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said that in the first half of the year the regions recruited about 200,000 people, roughly 5% fewer than a year earlier.