Name: How One Remote Russian City is Being Transformed by War Money
Uploaded: 2026-09-01T16:00:00Z
Duration: 10 min 40 s
Description: Far from the front, war cash is transforming remote Russia. WSJ spoke with locals, and analyzed state media and social posts to see how huge military payouts are reshaping everyday life in Ulan-Ude.

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Far from the front, war cash is transforming remote Russia. WSJ spoke with locals, and analyzed state media and social posts to see how huge military payouts are reshaping everyday life in Ulan-Ude. Photo Illustration: June Bang

https://m.wsj.net/video/20260901/85f7a676-dce9-4a0d-9086-92677064ac05/3/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Far from the front, war cash is transforming remote Russia. WSJ spoke with locals, and analyzed state media and social posts to see how huge military payouts are reshaping everyday life in Ulan-Ude.

How One Remote Russian City is Being Transformed by War Money

How do you find hundreds of thousands of men who are willing to fight? Russia has started the system of incentives primarily for huge sums of money. The highest bonuses that you will see in Russia are more than three million rubles. You get at least 200,000 a month. You can defer loan payments. The family of a killed soldier is entitled to around 14 million. The sums of money became really significant over time. It's like, you know, a big inheritance or winning the lottery.

Russia spent around 8% of its GDP on its military in 2025. And while much of that money went to drones, tanks, missiles, and other weapons for Putin's war against Ukraine, billions are also being spent on manpower. There are three main categories of compensation for soldiers who enlist, signing bonuses, salaries, and what's known as coffin money. Currently, a new recruit might receive a regional sign-on bonus of around $20,000, then over $2,000 a month. And if they're killed, their families might receive around $170,000. Far from the front lines, communities like Ulan-Ude in Russia's Buryatia region are being fundamentally rewritten by these financial incentives. As fighting-age men leave for the battlefield or flee the country, unprecedented wartime cash is flowing in, dramatically reshaping both the local economy and the way of life.

It is a redistribution of resources from one part of society to another. Because the regions that are recruiting the most and where we have the most military casualties are usually the poorer regions, it can make a huge difference for the economies of these regions.

To understand how this war cash is reshaping Russia's remote cities, The Journal scoured social media posts, monitored state TV, and spoke directly with residents still on the ground in Ulan-Ude. From the beginning of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Buryatia region was heavily targeted for recruits. Just seven months into the war, a mobilization effort sent thousands of men from the region to the front. To avoid conscription, many other men left the country entirely.

Konstantin Osodoev, a former conscript soldier-turned-actor, opposed the war from day one. When mobilization began in September 2022, he fled the country immediately.

It's my father, my mother, my brother.

Back in Ulan-Ude, mobilization was deeply unpopular, leading to protests, so authorities increasingly pivoted to a different approach. Ads promising large sums of money and other benefits began appearing online and on billboards across the city, signaling a new recruitment drive. This flyer shows an AI soldier with keys to a new flat and a slogan, "Service is caring for your family." One resident who spoke to us under the condition of anonymity said the pressure to join is relentless.

The sums of money became really significant over time, especially in 2024, 2025. There were huge increases in these bonuses. And so far, this has helped the Kremlin to sustain a rate of recruitment that made it possible to continue the war.

Janis Kluge is an economist who has been tracking the rise in bonuses to attract new recruits.

Usually on these flyers, there's some key information about recruitment. It has a big number, which is usually the amount of rubles you can get in the first year, so including bonus and salaries. In 2024, in the beginning, Buryatia only paid 200,000 rubles from the regional government, then it increased to 500,000 and to one million, until recently, when it was increased to 1.5 and then 1.6 million rubles. In total, the family of a killed soldier is entitled to around 14 million rubles in compensation. It's maybe $150,000, and you would say, "That's a lot of money, but maybe not life-changing." It's important to consider what you can buy for that money in a poor Russian region, and it's much, much more.

Beyond apartments and cars, large Russian retailers are opening their doors in Ulan-Ude, tapping into veterans and their families' newfound wealth. A Stars Coffee moved in, the Russian replacement for Starbucks, as well as Lenta, a Walmart equivalent, and even the city's first Burger King. Alongside ads targeting war veterans and their families, reminders of the money source loom large.

The region has one of the highest casualty rates in the country, with over 5,000 deaths, according to a tally by Russian independent media, People of Baikal. The expansion of one of the city's cemeteries since the start of the war is even visible from space.

Alexandra Garmazhapova is a journalist who now runs the anti-war Free Buryatia Foundation. She fled Russia and splits her time between the US and Europe.

It's message from my good friend. He continued to live in Buryatia. He told me about his friend who supported full-scale invasion Russia to Ukraine. And now, his friend died in Ukraine because he was participating in this war.

Veterans who return from the front lines are hailed as heroes and role models. Among them is Mikhail Zarkoy, who was wounded in Ukraine, but used his combat pay to build a new life as a farmer.

Elsewhere in the city, a veteran opened a nail salon.

And a third opened a pastry shop.

This influx of cash and the high demand for real estate has sent prices rising, leaving many of those who aren't reaping the financial benefits of war unable to afford the soaring cost of living, locals told The Journal.

Against a backdrop of climbing prices and a slowing Russian economy, experts say military compensation can be even more attractive in the eyes of some men.

This new war money is also driving wedges between families. State television now highlights disputes over coffin money, the payments awarded to relatives of fallen soldiers.

These huge payouts to relatives of killed soldiers play a very important political function. The widow or, you know, the kids who lost their father, they're suddenly rich. Of course, there's a lot of jealousy because of these huge amounts of money that some receive and others don't receive, and this is very effective in sort of quelling any maybe anger or protest that could appear over time.

The Kremlin and Russia's Ministry of Defense didn't respond to our requests for comment. With so much of the country's economy now dependent on this conflict, experts say the incentive to keep fighting is baked into the system.

If the war in Ukraine ends, places such as Ulan-Ude, this will mean that the influx of cash suddenly stops, and I think that the outcome will be an economic crisis in these places.

The Wartime ‘Coffin Money’ Transforming Russia’s Poorest Regions

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