Headhunters, Russia’s largest job search platform, is advertising more than 5,000 vacancies each month for work linked to the Russian military. Arms factories are severely lacking in mechanics, machinists, engineers, and other workers in spite of President Vladimir Putin’s assurances of a “breakthrough” in the industry.
The shortages are driving up salaries at military-linked companies and creating a huge gap compared to civilian equivalents in cities like Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and Moscow, according to an investigation by the Important Stories website.
A civilian turner in Yekaterinburg, for example, earns around 80,000 rubles ($856) a month, while his counterpart at a weapons company makes 118,000 rubles on average, excluding additional benefits, the reporters found.
Such imbalances are leading to even more acute shortages in civilian industries, which were already stagnating under sanctions, as arms companies poach employees with the lure of higher wages. Russia lacks about 5 million workers, leading companies to cannibalize one another’s workforces.
Economists note that entire sectors, such as the automotive industry and companies related to the production of civilian machinery and equipment, have not yet returned to pre-war levels of production and are showing no signs of recovery.
Even those industries that have surpassed pre-war levels have now begun to stagnate. This includes petroleum products, chemicals, metallurgy, and railway transportation.
The economy’s shift to military production will persist. Kremlin-friendly analysts continually compile lists of armaments that will “aid in expediting the special operation,” including assault drones, anti-drone systems, remotely operated machine guns, and precision missiles.
Workers who lack the opportunity or desire to produce weapons for the destruction of Ukraine inevitably feel their “second-class” status compared to their counterparts in the military-industrial complex.
High pay is not the only privilege. The benefits and opportunities promised to war participants also continue to increase, though they are not always delivered.
War veterans are eligible for monthly allowances and tax breaks, free commuter train travel, priority medical services, resort vouchers, medication coverage, and state life and health insurance. They and their children are also exempt from university entrance exams and eligible for a freeze on loan repayments.
All of this by itself is unlikely to motivate people to go to war, but it significantly widens the gap between those profiting from aggression and the rest of the population, so exacerbating social tensions. Such friction affects both sides, with “regular” Russians increasingly aware of their lower status compared to veterans and armaments workers, even though mentally — and often physically — scarred veterans feel resentment toward the rest of society.
Among those directly involved in the bloodshed in Ukraine, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not uncommon. Psychiatrists from the Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute predict that PTSD will affect between 3% and 11% of all war veterans, rising to 30% among the wounded.
The consequences of untreated PTSD are not just an increase in violent crimes and alcohol abuse, but also a sense of alienation from civilian life. It’s difficult for those affected to accept that while they were killing and seeing others killed, those at home were living relatively carefree lives.
The feelings of injustice and bitterness are exacerbated by the absence of promised benefits, a complex bureaucracy, and a lack of assistance. As a result, former military personnel constantly feel they are not receiving the support they are entitled to, while “ordinary” people believe former frontline soldiers are receiving too much.
Such tensions increasingly erupt into open conflict. In September veterans lamented a “hunt for ‘special operation’ fighters on the home front,” as reports of beatings of those returning from Ukraine swept Russia.
In Pskov, a veteran of the war in Ukraine was ridiculed and told he did not deserve respect, abused his position, and lived off others. In other regions of Russia, veterans say they have been denied entry to hotels and restaurants while in military uniform, and their children are bullied at school.
At the same time, they find themselves having to fight for benefits and allowances owed to them by the government.
Putin’s regime has attempted to address the tensions by toughening criminal liability for insulting veterans, but such moves have backfired as criminal cases for “discrediting the armed forces” are often initiated for everyday rebukes to those who happen to be returning frontline soldiers.
One such case was filed, for example, against an aircraft attendant who removed a veteran from a flight for smoking, cementing the perception of their privileged status and adding to negative attitudes towards the military.
Kseniya Kirillova is an analyst focused on Russian society, mentality, propaganda, and foreign policy. The author of numerous articles for CEPA and the Jamestown Foundation, she has also written for the Atlantic Council, Stratfor, and others.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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