A 37-year-old woman from St Petersburg, identified only as Maria, told CNN she discovered her father had secretly enlisted and married a woman 22 years younger two days before he was killed in Ukraine. She had never met the widow, who became his legal next of kin and entitled to a compensation payout starting at five million roubles (about $64,000). CNN said it attempted to contact the widow for comment.

Russian officials and media have labelled such women 'black widows'. Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said the problem had reached 'serious proportions' and called for stronger protection for military families. In one case, a military hospital nurse was dismissed after allegedly marrying five wounded soldiers before they died. A Russian court overturned a soldier's wife's next-of-kin status after his family argued she married for financial gain.

Russian media reported an investigation into military personnel accused of arranging marriages between vulnerable recruits, including orphans, and women who would later claim compensation. In a separate incident, a podcast host and an estate agent in Tomsk gave advice on marrying soldiers for payouts; both were sentenced to prison terms that included community service and forced to apologise publicly. Some cases involved security forces allegedly conspiring with women to send recruits on dangerous missions for a share of the payout.

The Kremlin has encouraged recruits to marry since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a policy that critics say has been exploited. Investigations into the alleged scams are ongoing.