In Russia's Bashkortostan, the authorities have officially acknowledged for the first time a decline in the number of people willing to sign contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry to participate in the war against Ukraine. The region, which has the highest number of confirmed deaths among all Russian federal subjects, has been forced to cut spending on recruiting new servicemen. The Moscow Times reports, UNN writes.
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In an explanatory note to Bashkortostan's draft budget for 2027–2028 dated November 11, the local authorities explicitly pointed to a decrease in the number of citizens signing military contracts.
Officials cited this as the reason for reducing funding for one-time payments to contract soldiers from 13.6 billion to 12.6 billion rubles. At the same time, the regional payment for signing a contract remains at 1 million rubles for now.
Bashkortostan has suffered the heaviest losses in the war against Ukraine
According to estimates by Mediazona, as of November 2026, the deaths of 11,990 residents of Bashkortostan in the war against Ukraine have been confirmed.
This is the highest figure among all Russian regions. The number of dead amounts to nearly 0.3% of the republic's population and is approaching the official losses of the entire USSR during its decade-long war in Afghanistan, where 15,051 people were killed.
At the same time, Bashkortostan is experiencing serious budget problems. In the first half of 2026, the regional budget deficit reached 17.1 billion rubles, while revenue from profit tax fell by 38%.
Due to a lack of funds, the local authorities have already cut spending on street lighting, reduced regional payments to the families of fallen servicemen twentyfold, and decided to sell part of the shares in Bashneft.