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 |
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.
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Since when is a three star general brigadier general? Should not be there Colonel general?
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