When Maria was informed by the Russian army that her 59-year-old father had been shot on the front line in the war in Ukraine and later died from his injuries, she was devastated and shocked.
Not only did she not know that her father had enlisted in the army, but she also found out that he had gotten married just two days before being sent to battle.
„I am still in shock and still cannot accept what happened. Even now, sometimes I wake up thinking I dreamed it all. But it’s real,” Maria said tearfully to CNN.
The bride, whom Maria said she had never met and had never even heard her father talk about, was 22 years younger than him and had legally become his closest relative, entitling her to official compensation.
„I have never even spoken to this woman,” said 37-year-old Maria. CNN uses only her first name for confidentiality reasons.
„I don’t know what I could say to her, because I immediately suspected it was a scam.” CNN tried to reach out to the widow for comment.
„When a Russian soldier is killed in battle, his closest relatives receive fixed amounts from the army starting at 5 million rubles (approximately $64,000),” a compensation meant to provide recruits with the assurance that, if – and often when – the worst happens, their loved ones will be financially supported.
However, in Russia, there are growing concerns that this benefit is increasingly exploited by unscrupulous scammers, whom Russian officials and state media call „black widows.” They deceive vulnerable men into entering fake marriages, then send them off to war, and if their new spouses are killed, they claim the compensations, excluding other relatives.
### Marriages on the Deathbed
In recent months, the Russian public has been shocked by numerous reports of recruits who were lured into marriages before dying on the front lines or even getting married on their deathbed.
In a highly publicized case last year, a nurse at a military hospital was fired after being accused of marrying five soldiers under her care before they died from their injuries, in order to collect death benefits.
It is an abuse that has struck a sensitive chord in a society increasingly alarmed by the effects of the war in Ukraine – which the Kremlin continues to call a „special military operation” – on life in Russia.
Amid a deteriorating economy, fuel shortages, a rising number of casualties, and Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil, the condemnation of these scammers is growing stronger, and public calls for firm action from authorities are increasing.
„Families of participants in the Special Military Operation need protection from unscrupulous criminals, so-called ‘black widows,’ financial fraudsters, and predators targeting those who have received monetary compensation,” said influential Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky. He added that such „crimes” have taken on „serious proportions.”
### Cynical Advice
Following Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin actively encouraged recruits to marry, likely to strengthen family support or provide them with additional motivation to fight. The pro-marriage campaign also aligned with President Vladimir Putin’s promotion of so-called traditional values in the context of Russia’s demographic decline.
Authorities sought to facilitate quick marriages for newly enlisted soldiers by eliminating the usual waiting period, and state television broadcast collective ceremonies organized by local authorities to further simplify the process.
Marriage to a soldier, especially to a recruit about to be sent to the front – where life expectancy on the described battle lines as a „meat grinder” is now extremely low – has even been presented as a way to obtain money to buy a home.
In a video podcast recorded last year in the Siberian city of Tomsk, a real estate agent offered astonishingly cynical advice to potential buyers.
„I’m 30 years old and if I want to buy an apartment, where do I get the money from?” asked the presenter, Daria Tserdantseva.
„It’s simple,” replied real estate agent Marina Orlova. „Find a man serving in the Special Military Operation and when he is killed, you will receive 8 million rubles (approximately $102,000),” she said, laughing.
„Many women are now buying cheap apartments this way. It’s a deal,” Orlova added.
Both women were later criminally charged, received community service sentences, and were required to apologize to the soldiers and their wives.
### General Revolt
Russian courts have intervened in other high-profile cases, including the public dispute between a soldier’s mother from Ryazan and a woman from the same town whom he had met and married during a short leave from the front.
The soldier, Georgy Kostyrko, met Angelina Varyukhina online and married her ten days later before returning to his unit.
According to Kostyrko’s mother, the new wife soon began posting photos and videos on social media with other men, and her son filed for divorce. However, he was killed in battle before the procedure could be completed, making her the legal beneficiary of death benefits.
Varyukhina presented a different version of events, claiming that accusations regarding their short marriage were an attempt to „smear” her reputation and that she and Kostyrko had reconciled after an argument. She said the photos showing her with other men were only posted to make Georgy jealous.
Ultimately, the courts revoked her status as a entitled relative to compensation, but the scandal sparked widespread outrage.
However, there have been shocking cases where Russian security forces seem to have been involved in organizing such „black widow” scams, conspiring with certain women to send their recruited new husbands on extremely dangerous missions in exchange for a share of the compensations if they were killed.
In a case from last year, the Russian press reported on an investigation conducted in Primorsky Krai, in Russia’s Far East, involving an alleged scheme in which a warrant officer, a sergeant, and a military accountant were implicated. The three were accused of recruiting vulnerable men, including orphans and those without close relatives, and arranging marriages for them. The recruits were then sent to high-risk front positions, where the likelihood of being killed in battle was higher. Since then, there have been no public updates on the progress of the investigation.
Back in St. Petersburg, Maria showed the CNN team her father’s former apartment, which had since been sold. She is convinced that he too was deceived and deprived of his home.
Behind a damaged door, the new owners insisted it was a legal transaction and they hadn’t even met the seller. But the money and the widow, like Maria’s father, had long disappeared.
„There’s absolutely nothing left, and it hurts terribly,” Maria said tearfully.
„I don’t have any object to remind me of him. Just his apartment keys, which don’t even open the door anymore. That’s all that’s left.”