A week into Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a gesture of solidarity with his soldiers at the front: injured men could claim compensation of 3 million rubles, equivalent to about $50,000 or the amount an average Russian worker would earn in four years.
"It’s our duty to support the families of our fallen and injured war comrades,” said Putin when he announced it in early March.
But with the numbers of wounded servicemen mounting, some of them are finding that Putin’s gesture is not as generous as it initially seemed. Reuters has found that some injured soldiers — including those with significant wounds — are struggling to obtain the compensation, based on interviews with four injured Russian service personnel, a wounded soldier’s relative, two people involved with advocacy groups representing soldiers and a lawyer.