In Belgorod Oblast, it's an additional 2.6 million ($25,200).These benefits – as well as payments to veterans and to soldiers' families in the event of their deaths — have been vital in enticing men to join the Russian army.Speaking on Dec. 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that more than 430,000 people had signed up to join the country's Armed Forces in 2024 alone.Most troops hail from Russia's most disadvantaged regions — places where the prospect of upfront cash is simply too difficult to ignore.But these payments are also increasingly warping Russia's social fabric. The funds used to provide local sign-on bonuses, as well as war pensions, are drawn from regional welfare budgets: money traditionally put aside to support vulnerable groups such as disabled people or large families.An investigation by independent Russian news outlet iStories found that war payments increasingly dominate these funds.