Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Russian authorities are investigating a growing number of cases where women allegedly entered into quick marriages with soldiers to claim state compensation after the men died at the front, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The brief ceremony — lasting only 20 minutes, without photos, rings, or guests — raised doubts among friends and relatives.
When 40-year-old soldier Sergei Khandoyko married just one day after enlisting in October 2023, his family was puzzled.
He had never mentioned a fiancée or any plans for marriage.
Court documents seen by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Khandoyko’s new wife, Elena Sokolova, continued living with her ex-husband and children even after the wedding.
When Khandoyko was later killed in Ukraine, she received the state compensation reserved for the relatives of fallen soldiers — about $200,000, nearly 20 times Russia’s average annual income.
A Russian civil court later found Sokolova guilty of fraud and annulled the marriage, ordering her to pay a fine of 3,000 rubles (around $37). She has appealed the verdict and declined to comment, the paper reported.
Rise of the ‘Black Widows’
The phenomenon has become so common that Russians now refer to the perpetrators as “black widows” — women who marry soldiers for compensation payments.
Courts across the country are reviewing cases to determine whether these unions were genuine or arranged purely for profit.
Lawmakers are calling for tougher laws to curb the practice, proposing that those found guilty be barred from receiving military family benefits.
Money and desperation
To sustain its war in Ukraine, Russia has offered significant incentives — high wages, enlistment bonuses, and up to 14.5 million rubles (around $180,000) in death compensation.
These sums, while aimed at encouraging enlistment, have also sown tension in poorer regions, where disputes over payments have split families and communities.
There have been reports of estranged relatives resurfacing to claim a share of compensation, and grandparents demanding repayment for raising the soldiers’ children.
Organized fraud rings
According to investigators, some scams are far from isolated. In the Khanty-Mansiysk region, an organized group allegedly persuaded single men to enlist, then arranged sham marriages to siphon off their military payments.
That case, involving over 30 million rubles ($370,000), was prosecuted as an organized crime operation.
In the Russian Far East, a couple allegedly convinced a man to marry a 63-year-old accomplice so she could later claim death compensation.
Prosecutors said the group divided roughly 8 million rubles ($100,000) among themselves.
Public outcry and political debate
Some lawmakers want to make such fake marriages a criminal offense. Others suggest that women who marry soldiers during wartime and later divorce should lose access to state compensation.
A public scandal erupted when a Siberian real estate agent, Marina Orlova, was convicted of inciting hatred after saying in a podcast that women could “make easy money” by marrying soldiers.
She later apologized in a police video.
Families torn apart
The financial stakes have left families divided. Near Moscow, a 22-year-old woman who met a soldier online married him just days before his deployment. Eleven days later, he was gone.
Although she filed for divorce before his death, she sought compensation afterward — sparking a court battle with his relatives.
The soldier’s family lawyer condemned the claim, saying, “Attempting to profit from the blood of a hero is not only immoral, but pure treason.”
The “Black Widows” show that even though the Kremlin is trying to make the population more patriotic, promote traditional family values, and encourage every individual Russian to think about how they can help the country, it is impossible to fight a human trait as basic as greed and survival.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, BBC
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation
