‘It’s impossible to get this money’ Russian convicts-turned-soldiers write to Putin, complaining of broken promises
Former Russian prisoners who were recruited into the Storm Z unit and sent to fight in Ukraine wrote to President Vladimir Putin on their return, saying that they didn’t receive their promised salaries or compensation for injuries and that their criminal records weren’t expunged, reports iStories, who obtained and verified a copy of the letter.
Seven former prisoners wrote that during their military service, they “didn’t receive a single full paycheck, combat payments for being on the front lines, or guaranteed compensation for injuries sustained [on the battlefield].” They noted that they’re unable to get certificates giving them combat-veteran status since the military won’t provide them with the necessary documentation.
Roman Polyakov, a 42-year-old who fought on the Sievierodonetsk and Zaporizhzhia fronts in the summer of 2023, told journalists that he suffered multiple injuries. According to him, he can’t find employment in Russia now due to his criminal record. He says that when prisoners were recruited, they were promised a “full social package,” the same conditions as other fighters, and expunged criminal records. However, they weren’t given copies of their contracts — which turned out to be with the head of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) rather than the Russian Defense Ministry. Polyakov says the promises lacked substance:
In reality, they paid us half our salary at most: 100,000–105,000 rubles ($1,130–$1,186). They gave me three days of combat payments, even though I spent exactly three months in the [combat zone]. They told us that our payments for injuries weren’t based on [Putin’s decree], that there was a separate decree from the Defense Ministry: 50,000 rubles ($565) for a minor injury and 300,000 rubles ($3,390) for a serious one. But it’s impossible to get this money because, for example, I haven’t been able to get a certificate documenting the severity of my injury for two months now.
In March of 2022, Putin signed a decree stipulating one-time three-million-ruble payments (about $34,000) to military personnel for injuries and five-million-ruble payouts (about $56,000) to their families in the event of their death. Members of volunteer units are to receive three million rubles for an injury which leads to a medical discharge. When another Storm Z fighter asked about compensation, the Rostov-on-Don military prosecutor’s office answered that the president’s decree doesn’t apply to them.
Storm Z
A Russian military unit whose members are mostly former prisoners.