New pay structure approved

On December 5, the Russian government approved the new pay structure for the Russian military. As before, the pay structure consists of two main parts: position pay and rank pay, with a 2:1 ratio between these two parts. In addition, there are various bonuses, such as danger pay, hardship pay, additional pay for working with classified materials, etc. I won’t cover the bonuses here, as the government decree did not address these topics.

First, rank pay

Military rank	Monthly pay (rubles)
Marshal	30000
Army general or admiral (4 stars)	27000
Brigadier Colonel general or admiral (3 stars)	25000
Lt. general, Vice admiral (2 stars)	22000
Major general, Rear admiral (1 star)	20000
Colonel, Captain 1st rank	13000
Lt. Colonel, Captain 2nd rank	12000
Major, Captain 3rd rank	11500
Captain, Captain lieutenant	11000
Senior lieutenant	10500
Lieutenant	10000
Junior lieutenant	9500
Chief warrant officer or midshipman	8500
Warrant officer or midshipman	8000
Master sergeant or chief ship petty officer	7500
Senior sergeant or chief petty officer	7000
Sergeant or petty officer 1st class	6500
Junior sergeant or petty officer 2nd class	6000
Private 1st class (efreitor) or senior seaman	5500
Private or seaman	5000

And position pay:

Position	Monthly pay (rubles)
First Deputy Minister of Defense	45000
Deputy Minister of Defense	44000
Commander of a service (ground forces, navy, air force)	42000
Head of a chief directorate, commander of a branch of the armed forces (rocket forces, VDV, etc)	40000
Deputy head of a chief directorate, commander of a combined army	37000
Head of a directorate	36000
Deputy head of directorate	34000
Department head	31500
Deputy department head	30000
Head of a group in a department	29000
Senior officer in a directorate	28000
Officer in a directorate	26500
Corps commander, directorate head at unified strategic command HQ	32500
Division commander	30500
Department head at unified strategic command HQ	29500
Brigade commander, department head in combined army HQ	29000
Regiment commander	26500
Senior officer at unified strategic command HQ	26000
Senior officer at combined army command HQ	25500
Officer at unified strategic command HQ	25000
Officer at combined army command HQ	24500
Battalion commander	24000
Company commander	22000
Platoon leader	20000
Squad leader	15000
Contract soldier initial pay	10000
Cadet	7000

What does this translate into? The starting salary for a contract soldier is $6000 a year, compared to an average salary in Russia of $9000 a year in 2010. That’s not bad for a starting salary. Anyone with a position of squad leader or above is pretty much guaranteed to be making more than the average Russian salary, and this is before bonuses. A company commander (typically a captain or major) will be making 50 percent more than the average salary. Plus, of course, housing is provided (though the quality of the housing may be quite poor in some locations).

So it seems to me that the Russian government has now followed through on its stated intent of making service in the Russian military financially attractive. Time will tell how this will impact on the recruitment and retention of contract soldiers and junior officers. Also, we will have to see whether the budget can handle the additional expense. But it certainly seems to be another step in the right direction for the reformers.