The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reportedly falsely designating former penal recruits as having abandoned their units without authorization (SOCH) to avoid paying them amid continued indicators that Russian authorities are concerned about the war's strain on the Russian economy.[73] Russian opposition outlet Verstka reported on February 20 that Russia designated at least 32 penal recruits of military unit 95378, the 1437th Motorized Rifle Regiment (15th Motorized Rifle Brigade, 2nd Combined Arms Army [CAA], Central Military District [CMD]) as SOCH since October 2024, including personnel pulled from the frontline, beaten in punishment “pits,” transported to unknown locations, and killed in action.[74] (ISW has observed reports that elements of the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade have been fighting in the Pokrovsk direction since intensified offensive operations in Fall 2024).[75] Verstka reported that the families of the missing soldiers wrote an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin for assistance in removing the false SOCH designations.
Verstka reported that some relatives have filed complaints against the 1437th Motorized Rifle Regiment's Acting Chief of Staff Captain Sergei Betonov, who reportedly admitted to relatives that former prisoners were assigned the SOCH status due to an “internal directive” from the MoD. Betonov reportedly told the relatives that his unit designates all penal recruits as SOCH when they perform combat missions and does not remove the designation until the soldiers return from combat. Verstka noted that the relatives believe the Russian MoD does not want to pay them, as relatives can petition Russian courts to redesignate “missing” or “lost” soldiers as “dead” to receive social benefits afforded to relatives of dead soldiers.
ISW has frequently observed reports indicating that Russian penal units sustain especially high casualties in attritional, infantry assaults, and the Russian military likely aims to reduce the high monetary costs associated with these high casualty rates.[76] A Russian milblogger claimed on February 20 that a Russian penal recruit currently in detention in occupied Donetsk Oblast claimed that only 30 personnel of his 240-person unit remained after a month of combat operations due to high casualties.[77] The milblogger claimed that “Storm” penal recruit units regularly are completely restaffed within one or two months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to highlight Russian military units fighting in Kursk Oblast to obscure the role of North Korean forces, as well as to highlight units accused of committing war crimes. Putin awarded the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade with the honorific name “Kursk” on February 21.[78] Putin previously lauded the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade in November 2024 as part of continued efforts to gloss over North Korean forces’ participation in combat operations in Kursk Oblast.[79] The 155th Naval Infantry Brigade is implicated in at least two instances of beheadings and summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Kursk Oblast in October 2024.[80]
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Russia service Radio Svoboda reported on February 21 that it gained access to data from the Russian MoD’s Main Military Medical Directorate and determined that Russian forces have suffered at least 166,000 wounded who were treated in military hospitals from January 2022 to mid-June 2024.
Radio Svoboda reported that the Russian military units that have suffered the most wounded personnel between February 2022 and June 2024 include the 252nd Motorized Rifle Regiment (3rd Motorized Rifle Division, 20th CAA, Moscow Military District [MMD]), 70th and 71st motorized rifle regiments (both 42nd Motorized Rifle Division, 58th CAA, Southern Military District [SMD]), 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade (2nd CAA, CMD), and 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade (41st CAA, CMD). Radio Svoboda reported that the 76th Airborne (VDV) Division had the most wounded of the VDV, as its 104th, 234th, and 237th VDV regiments suffered a combined 2,400 wounded from February 2022 to June 2024, while the 98th VDV Division sustained the second most wounded with over 1,300, including 800 just from its 331st VDV Regiment including 60 officers. Radio Svoboda reported that the Russian General Staff Main Directorate (GRU) units that suffered the most losses in this period were the 10th and 22nd Spetsnaz brigades.
Radio Svoboda noted that this data only includes Russian soldiers transported to rear military hospitals, also includes those treated in hospitals for injuries and illnesses unrelated to the war and does not include instances when a Russian soldier was treated several times. Radio Svoboda noted that Russian officers sustained higher casualty rates until roughly July 2022 as the Russian military had formed effective communications and moved command posts farther from the frontline following Ukraine's introduction of HIMARS to the battlefield in June 2022.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-february-21-2025
Russian forces continue to deploy wounded and medically unfit soldiers to the frontline in an effort to address personnel shortages. A Russian milblogger published a video on February 21 showing injured personnel of the Russian 150th Motorized Rifle Division (8th Combined Army [CAA], Southern Military District [SMD]) complaining that the Russian command is sending them to conduct infantry assaults despite their injuries.[48] The soldiers claimed that they are members of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division's “150th Motorized Rifle Regiment” — which ISW has not observed engaged in combat in Ukraine or Kursk Oblast. The soldiers claimed that frontline Russian commanders removed them from their original units after they were injured and that they are in Kursk Oblast to prepare for redeployment into combat. It is unclear if the injured soldiers are currently in Kursk undergoing medical treatment or if the Russian military command intends to introduce elements of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division into combat in Kursk Oblast. ISW has recently observed reports that the Russian military command is redeploying elements of the 150th and 20th motorized rifle divisions from the Kurakhove direction to the eastern Pokrovsk and Toretsk directions but has not observed discussions of these formations redeploying to Kursk Oblast.[49]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-february-22-2025