[del: Most Russian soldiers are paid over $100,000 a year to volunteer to fight in Ukraine. :del] In contrast, most of the Ukrainian soldiers are conscripts.
Here's a Youtube channel by a Brit who moved to Russia in 2002 or 2003:
Most Russian soldiers are from the poorest areas of Russia. Most of the poor schlubs getting fed into the meat grinder are never going to get their payday.
Provided that things like paperwork are in order, which often they are not, on purpose. For example, there are so many examples of Russian command refusing to collect the bodies of dead soldiers. No body, no death certificate, no payout.
That article was written 14 months ago. Since then, the amount the Kremlin is willing to offer volunteers to sign a contract has gone up substantially.
However, my research is telling me that I was wrong when I wrote, "Most Russian soldiers are paid over $100,000 a year to volunteer to fight in Ukraine". Even the ones who signed contracts recently probably get less than half of that.
[del: Most Russian soldiers are paid over $100,000 a year to volunteer to fight in Ukraine. :del] In contrast, most of the Ukrainian soldiers are conscripts.
Here's a Youtube channel by a Brit who moved to Russia in 2002 or 2003:
https://www.youtube.com/@SamsRussianAdventures/videos
At the current time, the top video (i.e., the latest video) in that list is titled, "I'm Much Happier Here in Russia - Here's How Much it Costs".
Sadly, I haven't been able to find out (after watching about 5 of his videos) how much he earns and how he gets his money.
Russia's Gini coefficient is 35.1 whereas the US is at 41.3. Zero means perfect equality whereas 100 is the most unequal society possible.