„I am still in shock and still cannot come to terms with what happened,“ said Marija, crying at the kitchen table in her small apartment in Saint Petersburg.
„At first, it seemed like a dream. Even now, I sometimes wake up thinking I probably just dreamed it all. But it is really happening,“ she added.
Marija had never met or even heard of her father Yuriy’s wife. The woman, 22 years younger, became the closest legal relative of her late father, so she is entitled to official compensation.
„I have never spoken to this woman. I don’t even know what to say to her because I immediately suspected it was a scam,“ Marija said.
When a Russian soldier dies in battle, his relatives are entitled to a one-time payment starting from 5 million rubles. When a Russian soldier dies in battle, his relatives receive one-time payments from the military, starting from 5 million rubles (53.2 thousand euros). This compensation is partly intended to reassure recruits that if – and often when – the worst happens, their loved ones will be taken care of.
However, concern is growing in Russia that heartless fraudsters, dubbed “black widows” by Russian officials and state media, are increasingly exploiting the opportunity to receive compensation.
In short, they deceitfully lure vulnerable men into fictitious marriages before they go to war. If their new husbands die, they claim compensation, bypassing other relatives.
Weddings on the deathbed
In recent months, Russia has been shaken by several stories about recruits who were allegedly tricked into marriage before dying on the front line. Some even got married on their deathbeds.
CNN recalled a widely publicized case last year when a woman who worked as a nurse in a military hospital was fired after being accused of marrying five different soldiers under her care before they died from battle injuries.
Against the backdrop of a poor economic situation, fuel shortages, and rising human casualties, society is increasingly condemning such fraudsters and demanding official strict measures.
„Families of participants in the ‘special military operation’ must be protected from brazen criminals, so-called ‘black widows,’ from financial and phone scammers and predators who target those who have received monetary compensations,“ emphasized Leonid Slutsky, a well-known legislator in the Russian State Duma.
According to him, such crimes have already reached a serious scale.
After Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin actively encouraged Russian recruits to get married. It is likely that this was intended to strengthen family support or instill additional motivation to fight.
Among other things, the campaign promoting marriages also aligned with the so-called traditional Russian values constantly praised by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, as the country faces a demographic decline.
The authorities also sought to facilitate the rapid conclusion of marriages for newly enlisted soldiers, and state television broadcast mass weddings organized by local officials.
Title
Marriage to a recruit who will soon be sent to war and has a catastrophically short life expectancy has repeatedly been presented in Russia as one way to acquire real estate in the country.
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Last year, in a video recorded in Tomsk, Siberia, a Russian real estate agent shared a surprisingly cynical tip with prospective buyers.
„I am a 30-year-old woman, but if I want to buy an apartment, where do I get the money?“ asked video podcast host Darya Cherdantseva.
„It’s simple,“ replied real estate agent Marina Orlova. „Find a husband who serves in the ‘special military operation,’ and when he dies, you will get 8 million rubles,“ or 85.1 thousand euros,“ she added laughing.
„Nowadays, many women buy cheap apartments exactly this way. It’s a business,“ added M. Orlova.
Eventually, both women were prosecuted, sentenced to a long period of community service, and forced to apologize to the soldiers and their wives.
Outrage boils
The article reports that Russian courts had to intervene in other high-profile cases, such as a public conflict between the mother of a Russian soldier from Ryazan and a local woman whom he met and married during a short leave.
Soldier Georgiy Kostyrka met Angelina Variuchina online and married her after 10 days, before returning to his unit.
According to G. Kostyrka’s mother, the new wife soon began sharing photos and videos with other men on social media, so her son filed for divorce. But before the paperwork was completed, he died in battle, so she automatically became the legal compensation recipient.
However, A. Variuchina gave a different version of events, saying that the accusations about her short marriage were an attempt to tarnish her reputation. According to her, the photos online showing her with other men were meant to provoke Georgiy’s jealousy.
The court later revoked the woman’s status as the closest relative of the deceased husband.
There are even more shocking cases where members of Russian security forces were involved in the “black widows” fraud scheme: they arranged with women to encourage their newly enlisted husbands to go on dangerous missions in exchange for a share of the compensation in case of their death.
Last year, Russian media reported on an investigation in Primorsky Krai into an alleged fraud scheme involving an officer, a sergeant, and a military accountant. These three individuals were accused of recruiting vulnerable men, including orphans and people without close relatives, and arranging marriages for them.
The grooms were allegedly later sent to high-risk front-line positions where their chances of dying in battle were much higher than others. Since then, no public updates on this case have been provided.
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