Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
In some services, the unfiled positions amounts to 40% of what is needed.
In December 2025, exiled Russian news outlet Vyorstka reported that Russian soldiers returning hom from Ukraine had been linked to more than 1000 killings and injuries in Russia.
According to the outlet’s numbers, at least 551 people had died at the hands of Russian soldiers returning home at the time.
But the Russian police force is lacking manpower to both combat the crime from veterans returning from Ukraine – and to keep the peace in general.
Falling appeal
According to the Kyiv Post, Igor Zubov, a deputy interior minister, addressed members of the State Duma on Wednesday while amendments to policing rules were under discussion.
The proposed changes would allow deputy heads of transport police units to process administrative offence cases, shifting routine tasks away from frontline officers.
“Of course, the prestige of service in the police has now fallen,” Zubov said. “In market conditions, the level of wages and social benefits does not correspond to expectations. Therefore, yes, we are losing personnel. Employees resign every day. The number of people hired does not cover this understaffing. In some services, it reaches 40%.”
Zubov told lawmakers that pay rises were planned but acknowledged limits, saying salaries would increase “not as much as we would like.”
Vacant posts
The Interior Ministry has previously disclosed the scale of the problem. In March 2025, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said more than 170,000 positions were unfilled.
Later that year, speaking at a meeting attended by President Vladimir Putin, he specified the figure as 172,000 vacancies.
The remarks this week coincided with broader political discussions in Europe about strained relations with Washington and calls for stronger continental unity, underscoring the tense international backdrop to domestic debates in Moscow.
An Interior Ministry presentation from 2025 showed deep gaps across core services. Criminal investigation units were operating with nearly one quarter of posts empty. Patrol police lacked close to a third of required staff, while drug control and preliminary investigation bodies were each short by more than one fifth.
Pressure and pay
Kolokoltsev has linked the exodus to working conditions. He said almost half of experienced officers left the force in 2024 and removed several commanders who failed to grant legally mandated leave, a practice he warned “inevitably led to increased tension.”
Despite the losses, Russia still reports one of the world’s highest police to population ratios. Official data show 643 Interior Ministry officers per 100,000 residents in 2024, compared with 256 in the United States and an EU average of about 335.
According to Vedomosti, a Russian business daily, average monthly pay across law enforcement structures stands at about 60,000 rubles, or roughly €657.
Sources: Interior Ministry of Russia, Vedomosti, Kyiv Post, Vyorstka
