Profitable business: in RF, police officers paid up to USD 1,280 for each offender sent to war

In russia, a bonus system has been introduced for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for sending detainees to the war against Ukraine. For one recruit in different regions, you can get from RUB 10,000 to RUB 100,000 (about USD 1,280), current and former russian police officers told Verstka.

The condition for this was the update of the Criminal Procedure Code, which now obliges police officers, detectives and investigators to explain to all detainees aged 18 to 65 that they can go to war and avoid criminal prosecution. After that, regional departments of internal affairs began to introduce bonuses for recruitment. In this case, the reward is established either by an order marked "for internal use" or orally.

The recruitment procedure takes place before the first interrogation, says a police officer from Krasnodar. According to him, first the detainee is told that he will not only be released from punishment, but also be given millions of rubles, a salary of more than RUB 200,000, family benefits and free education for children. The interrogation protocol indicates whether the detainee agrees to go to war or not, after which the document is sent to the curator from the Main Investigation Department, who, if he agrees, sends him to the military registration and enlistment office.

If a person goes to war, the proceedings in his case are terminated, the preventive measure is canceled, and criminal prosecution in the future is suspended. In this case, to receive a bonus, the police officer must bring the chief a certificate from the military registration and enlistment office stating that the suspect signed a contract. You can also show the judge's decision that the case is closed due to the defendant's departure for war. The money is paid at the end of the month along with his salary.

"Now in St. Petersburg, the salary of an investigator is RUB 40,000-60,000. And now, if you send someone, they suddenly started paying RUB 35,000. In fact, by sending two a month, the investigator receives more than his salary," says a police officer who recently resigned.

According to another interlocutor of Verstka, since the beginning of the year, recruitment bonuses have increased. For example, in St. Petersburg, they now pay RUB 50,000 for one person sent to war, and in the Leningrad Oblast - RUB 100,000.

In Moscow, they also pay RUB 50,000, says one of the metropolitan operatives. He clarified that part of the payment comes as a bonus from the mayor, and part "from some private legal entity." In the Kaluga Oblast, bonuses of RUB 10,000 were paid in 2024, but after the new year they raised it to RUB 60,000, said a police officer working in the region. In the Bryansk Oblast, where the salary of a precinct officer starts at RUB 38,000, they pay RUB 20,000-30,000 for recruitment, says a source from Verstka. In the Rostov and Tomsk Oblasts, payments do not exceed RUB 10,000-15,000 per recruit.

According to internal data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which Verstka studied, in June alone, 3,333 detainees across the country were offered to go to war. Of these, 2,200 refused to sign a contract, while 392 agreed, or almost 12% of offenders. The outcome of another 741 detainees is unknown. Among those who wanted to go to war with Ukraine, the most are suspected of theft (139) and drug possession and sale (53).

At the same time, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs themselves say that bonuses have begun to corrupt their colleagues. Thus, on June 26, three police officers were detained in the Voronezh Oblast. According to Verstka, in November last year they took a local resident to the police station for petty hooliganism. For several hours they beat him, using a stun gun and demanding that he sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. However, he did not do this, and after getting out of the station, he wrote a statement against the operatives. Only six months later, the police officers were interrogated, but they were never charged.