When a Russian soldier is killed in battle, his immediate family members receive an immediate payment from the military starting at 5 million rubles (about 55 euros). The compensation is intended to reassure conscripts that if, and often when, the worst happens, their relatives will be taken care of financially. But concerns are growing in Russia that this benefit is increasingly being exploited by ruthless fraudsters, whom Russian officials and state media call “black widows.”
When Maria was notified by the Russian military that her 59-year-old father had been shot on the front lines in the war in Ukraine and later died from his wounds, she was left both shocked and devastated. Not only did she not know that her father, Yuri, had enlisted in the army, she was also informed that he had been married just two days before he was sent to war.
“I’m still in shock and I still can’t accept what happened,” Maria said through tears, sitting at the kitchen table in her small apartment in St. Petersburg. “At first it seemed like a dream. Even now, sometimes I wake up thinking I only saw it in a dream. But this is really happening,” she added, tears in her eyes. The bride, whom Maria says she had never met and never heard her father mention, was 22 years younger than him and, after the marriage, had become the legal next of kin, which gave her the right to receive official compensation. “I have never spoken to this woman,” said Maria, 37. CNN is using only her first name to protect her privacy.
“I don’t know what to say to him, because I immediately suspected it was a scam,” she added. CNN tried to reach Jur’s widow for comment, but was unable to.
When a Russian soldier is killed in battle, his immediate family members receive an immediate payment from the army starting at 5 million rubles (about 55 euros). The compensation is intended to reassure conscripts that if, and often when, the worst happens, their relatives will be taken care of financially. But concerns are growing in Russia that this benefit is increasingly being exploited by ruthless con artists, whom Russian officials and state media call “black widows.” They trick vulnerable men into sham marriages before they go to war, and then, if the new spouses are killed, they receive the compensation, to the exclusion of the rest of the family.
DEATHBED MARRIAGE
In recent months, Russians have been shocked by several stories of conscripts allegedly being lured into marriage just before they died on the front lines, or even being married on their deathbeds. In a high-profile “black widow” case last year, a nurse at a military hospital was fired after being accused of marrying five soldiers she treated before they died of their wounds, in order to collect their financial compensation, which would have gone to their immediate families.
This phenomenon has affected a sensitive part of Russian society, which is increasingly alarmed by the impact that the war in Ukraine, which the Kremlin continues to call a “special military operation,” is having on life inside the country. At a time when the economy is deteriorating, fuel shortages are increasing, the death toll continues to mount, and Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory are becoming increasingly damaging, condemnation of these fraudsters is growing stronger, while public calls for the authorities to take action are increasing.
“The families of the participants in the Special Military Operation need protection from unscrupulous criminals, from so-called ‘black widows,’ from financial and telephone scammers and predators who target those who received monetary payments,” said Leonid Slutsky, a prominent member of the Russian parliament who does not usually criticize the government. According to him, these “crimes” have already taken on “serious proportions.”
CYNIC ADVICE
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin actively encouraged Russian conscripts to marry, perhaps to bolster family support or to give them an extra incentive to fight. The pro-marriage campaign was also in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s promotion of so-called “traditional values” at a time when Russia is facing demographic decline. Authorities created procedures so that newly recruited soldiers could marry quickly, without the usual waiting period, while state television broadcast mass wedding ceremonies organized by local authorities to make the process even easier.
Marriage to a soldier, especially a conscript who was expected to leave very soon for the front, where life expectancy on the harsh front lines has become extremely short, has even been presented as a way to secure money to buy a home.
In a podcast recorded last year in the Siberian city of Tomsk, a real estate agent gave a shocking and extremely cynical piece of advice. “I’m a 30-year-old woman, but if I want to buy an apartment, where should I find the money?” asked the moderator, Darya Cherdantseva. “It’s simple,” replied the agent, Marina Orlova. “I find a man who serves in the Military Special Operations and when he is killed, I get 8 million rubles (about 88 euros),” she said with a laugh. “A lot of women are buying cheap apartments this way these days. It’s a business,” Orlova added.
Later, both were prosecuted, sentenced to many hours of community service, and forced to apologize to the soldiers and their wives.
GREAT PUBLIC ANGER
Russian courts have also intervened in other high-profile cases, such as the public clash between the mother of a Russian soldier from Ryazan and a local woman he met and married during a brief leave from the front. The soldier, Georgy Kostyrko, met Angelina Varyukhina online and married her just 10 days later, before returning to his unit. According to Kostyrko’s mother, the young woman quickly began posting photos and videos of herself with other men on social media, while her son filed for divorce. But he was killed in the war before the proceedings could be completed, leaving her legally entitled to death compensation.
Varyukhina later gave a different version, saying that the accusations about her short marriage were an attempt to damage her reputation and that she had reconciled with Kostyrko after a disagreement. According to her, the photos with other men were published only to make Georgy jealous.
Ultimately, the court stripped Varyukhina of her closest family member status, but the scandal sparked widespread public outrage. However, there have also been shocking cases where members of the Russian security forces are suspected of helping to organize “black widow” schemes, working with women to send their newly recruited husbands on extremely dangerous missions in exchange for a share of the compensation if they were killed. In one case last year, Russian media reported on an investigation in the Primorsky Krai Region, in the country’s far east, into an alleged scheme involving an officer, a sergeant, and a military accountant. They were accused of recruiting vulnerable men, including orphans and those without close relatives, and arranging marriages for them. The recruits were then allegedly sent to extremely dangerous positions on the front lines, where they were more likely to be killed in combat. There have been no public updates on the case since.
Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, Maria accompanied the CNN team to her father’s old apartment, which had already been sold. She is convinced that his apartment was also obtained through fraud.
After a damaged door, the new owners insisted that the purchase had been completely legal and that they had never met the seller. But the money and the widow, like Maria’s father, were long gone. “There is absolutely nothing left and it hurts me endlessly,” Maria said through tears. “I don’t have a single thing to remind me of him. I only have the keys to his apartment, which no longer open anything, and that’s it.” (CNN)