Russia's "Black Widows": Marrying and Sending Husbands to Die in War

The phenomenon of "black widows" in Russia: women marry Russian soldiers shortly before they are sent to the front in Ukraine, aiming to receive death compensation of millions of rubles. A Walla! report documents verified cases of fictitious marriages rejected by courts, alongside a serious investigation in Primorye against military personnel suspected of organizing a scheme of fictitious marriages and sending men on especially dangerous missions.

The phenomenon of "black widows" in Russia is described in the report as a scheme in which women marry Russian soldiers shortly before they are sent to the front in Ukraine, aiming to receive death compensation of millions of rubles. The report tells the story of Maria, 37, from St. Petersburg, who discovered that her 59-year-old father enlisted, married a woman 22 years younger, and was killed at the front. Compensation starts at about 5 million rubles (about 181,000 shekels) and can exceed 8 million rubles (about 289,000 shekels). The report documents cases where Russian courts ruled that marriages to soldiers were fictitious: an 18-year-old woman from Krasnodar Krai married a soldier in 2024, they did not live together, and after his death in 2025 she received over 7 million rubles and a fraud investigation was opened. In Chuvashia, a woman married a soldier on the day he signed his service contract, they never lived together, and she did not know his family. The most serious investigation is in Primorye, where a major, a female sergeant, and an accounting employee of a military unit are suspected of identifying men from disadvantaged backgrounds, persuading them to enlist, arranging fictitious marriages, and then attempting to send them to assault units and especially dangerous missions to claim compensation. The report notes that not every case is proven, and some women claim the accusations against them are false. However, the authorities themselves publish cases where courts ruled that the marriages were intended to obtain money.