Russian soldiers scammed and robbed of war cash on return from Ukraine

Russia's President Vladimir Putin promised Russian soldiers a hero's welcome when they return from Ukraine, but the BBC has found cases of servicemen robbed and scammed for their salaries and pay-offs by government officials.

Since the invasion began in February 2022, President Putin has trebled the size of the Russian army, relying on financial incentives to attract volunteers.

Like thousands of Russians, 39-year old Nikita Khursa went to fight in Ukraine for the money.

Depending on the region, a recruit can get up to 5.2m roubles (£47,000) in the first year of service, plus up to 4m roubles for injuries.

This can amount to 600% of the average national wage.

For many, hailing from Russia's poorer regions, it is irresistible despite the risk of not coming back.

A welder originally from a town in Rostov region, close to Ukraine, Nikita Khursa only spent a couple of months on the front in the summer of 2024, before being wounded and sent back home to recover.

Nikita Khursa and his wife Oksana had hoped to buy a flat with the money he made fighting for Russia

That injury earned him a hefty bonus, which he and his wife Oksana had planned to spend on buying a flat.

However, after falling out with her one night over his drinking, he stormed out, drunk, upset and barefoot - with a plastic bag containing their savings in cash.

In his drunken state, Khursa decided to drive to Rostov and buy an apartment there instead.

"If my wife had been wiser, she would have told me to sleep over it and decide in the morning", he laments to the BBC.

He got into his car but didn't drive very far before being stopped by the traffic police who noticed the bag and demanded a bribe.

Khursa told the two officers he had recently returned from Ukraine.

"Let's not do this, he's just come back from the war," he recalls one police officer suggesting. But the other one, seeing the cash, said: "Shut up, do you know how much money that is?"

They took almost everything - 2.66m roubles (£24,000).

The officers had no regard for Vladimir Putin's promises that those who decided to join Russia's war against Ukraine should be treated as heroes and "the new elite" upon their return.

Putin has relied on financial incentives to triple the size of the military

In another case, several police officers who worked at a Moscow airport are suspected of tipping off taxi drivers about servicemen returning from the front.

The drivers would offer a reasonable fare, and then, after completing the ride, they would demand up to 15 times more.

Those who resisted were threatened; some were allegedly drugged or intoxicated while the thieves used their bank cards.

Investigators believe the gang took at least 1.5m roubles from returning soldiers.

• Read more: School-leavers losing their lives for Russia in Putin's war

Sometimes salaries are stolen before the servicemen have even seen the money.

In October 2024, police arrested three staff members of a recruitment centre in Vladimir region for stealing more than 11m roubles from soldiers.

The suspects got access to their salary accounts by keeping for themselves the sim cards that had been issued to the new recruits and were tied to the accounts.

In another case, a local official from Belgorod region is suspected of stealing more than a million roubles from new recruits by linking their bank accounts to his own phone number.

Sometimes soldiers have been robbed by their own commanders.

One serviceman told the BBC his unit was denied access to shops and ordered to hand over their bank cards and PIN numbers to a sergeant major.

The officer allegedly ended up with 50 salary cards, many belonging to soldiers now listed as missing in action.

According to the soldier we spoke to, he fled with the money . Some cards reportedly had up to 2m roubles on them.

Khursa has split up with his wife and now expects to return to the army

Nikita Khursa reported the two officers who took his money to the police.

They were charged with robbery and abuse of power, but the case never reached court.

Both officers signed up to join the army and went to Ukraine, avoiding prosecution under a new law that allows criminal suspects to fight instead of facing charges.

"At first I was angry," Khursa told the BBC from a hospital near Saint Petersburg. "Then I thought, if there is a God, maybe this is how it should be."

He never got his money back and is now awaiting a military doctor's decision on whether he must return to the front, as contract soldiers have to stay in the fight until the end of the war.

Khursa says he has shrapnel near his heart, but does not see a civilian future for himself.

He and Oksana have now split up: he said he didn't want to keep his wife tied down while he was in the military.

"If I'm not here, I'll end up on the street", he says. "Only the army saves you, puts a roof over your head."

Illustrations by Natalia Maca.