Irkutsk Region set a Russian record payment for recruiting foreigners for the war: 1.5 million rubles

Irkutsk Region set a Russian record payment for recruiting foreigners for the war: 1.5 million rubles

The authorities of Irkutsk Region have increased payments to recruiters for bringing in contract soldiers for the war; Verstka found the relevant decree on the region’s official legal information portal.

On September 10, Irkutsk Region Governor Igor Kobzev established a payment of 1.5 million rubles for those who “assisted” in recruiting a foreigner or stateless person to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry. This is the highest payment in Russia for recruiting foreigners.

By the same decree, the authorities of Irkutsk Region doubled the payment for recruiting Russians from other regions, from 400,000 to 800,000 rubles.

Irkutsk Region has been paying for help recruiting contract soldiers for the war since at least April 2026. The maximum amount a recruiter could receive was 400,000 rubles. That was paid for recruiting a person registered in another region to sign a contract, regardless of citizenship.

Thus, over the past seven months, the maximum payment for recruiting a foreigner has risen from 400,000 to 1.5 million rubles, almost fourfold.

In 2026, several Russian regions raised payments to recruiters. One of the leaders in payments for recruitment is Smolensk Region. There, the authorities increased the reward for bringing a person of any citizenship to sign a contract from 115,000 to 1 million rubles.

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