August 10, 2023

Lords of War


Lords of War
Russian soldiers wearing Ratnik infantry combat system.  Vitaly V.Kuzmin, Wikipedia Commons

According to independent news outlet Vazniye Istorii ("Important Stories"), companies associated with Oleg Deripaska, Leonid Mikhelson, Sergey Gordeyev, Mikhail Gutseriyev, and other Russian oligarchs have been recruiting men for the war in Ukraine. In partnership with the Russian Ministry of Defense, the oligarchs continue to employ the enlistees and pay their wages.

The report conducted by Vazniye Istorii highlighted the case of Igor Sergienko, a fighter in the Sokol volunteer battalion, who found employment with a private security company linked to Oleg Deripaska. Sergienko’s salary of R200,000 ($2000) per month was paid to him by the Ministry of Defense, and an additional R100,000 ($1000) was paid by the private security company. His recruitment was facilitated through a company closely associated with the aluminum giant Rusal.

The scheme used by Novatek, Russia’s second-largest natural gas producer, is similar. Owned by billionaires Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, Novatek enlists "volunteers" in private security companies and pays them R300,000 ($3000) per month through the Muzhestvo ("Manliness") Fund, on top of their salary from the Ministry of Defense.

Other companies involved in military personnel recruitment are connected with oligarchs Sergey Gordeyev and Mikhail Gutseriyev. For instance, the construction giant PIK offers "volunteers" R400,000 ($4000) upon signing a contract and an additional R100,000 ($1000) per month for those serving in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Mospromstroy company pays R200,000 ($2000) upon contract signing and R150,000 ($1500) for each month spent in combat.

It’s worth noting that this recruitment approach is not new, as state-owned companies like Mosgaz, Moscow Metro, Gormost, and Mosvodokanal have previously entered into similar contracts with "volunteers." However, the involvement of private companies is a new development. Surprisingly, some of these companies are not currently under full international sanctions, as exemplified by Novatek, which only faces sanctions from the United States. In fact, in 2022, Novatek increased its supply of liquefied gas to Europe.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Russian authorities launched a large-scale recruitment campaign for the army: the governors and the Ministry of Defense were tasked with attracting some 400,000 soldiers. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that more than 231,000 men have already been recruited. Experts, however, doubt the veracity of such figures.

At the same time, the State Duma recently raised the draft age for conscripts and those mobilized, increased fines, and restricted travel abroad for those who have received a draft summons. In addition, the government plans punish anyone who evades military service with imprisonment of up to five years. This may signal that contract recruitment is not going as well as authorities claim.

You Might Also Like

Antidepressants on the Rise
  • August 03, 2023

Antidepressants on the Rise

Antidepressant use in Russia has skyrocketed over the last year, especially in St. Petersburg.
Frozen Fortunes
  • June 23, 2023

Frozen Fortunes

And oligarch wants to donate funds to the victims of the war on both sides.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955