Russia grants tax amnesty to encourage fighting in Ukraine | News of the war between Russia and Ukraine

Russian authorities have announced that soldiers and state employees deployed to fight in Ukraine will be exempt from income tax, Moscow’s latest effort to encourage support for a military campaign against Kyiv that has suffered multiple setbacks and defeats.

The new tax measure relates to all Russian forces fighting in the four Ukrainian territories that Moscow has declared its own – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – although it does not fully control the four regions.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to an exception contained in the anti-corruption law, details of which were published by Russian authorities on Thursday evening.

According to the decree, soldiers, police, members of the security services and other state employees serving in the four regions are no longer required to provide information on their “income, expenses and assets”.

Russian forces in Ukraine are also entitled, according to the decree, to receive “bonuses and gifts” if they are of a “humanitarian nature” and are received as part of what Russia calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. The tax exemption also applies to partners and children of those they serve and goes back to February 24, 2022 – the date Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow Times mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday eliminating the requirement for government officials to disclose their income tax returns for the duration of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Prior to the decree, civil servants were required by Russian law to publicly disclose income tax returns for themselves and their immediate family members in an effort to curb endemic corruption. Military officers were also required to disclose their tax returns upon their appointment or dismissal,” the Moscow Times reported.

The newspaper stated that “the decree also exempts soldiers fighting in Ukraine as well as members of the security services from releasing their tax returns, as well as officials who traveled to the regions annexed by Russia in Ukraine to work.”

The Kremlin has offered a series of incentives for Russians fighting in Ukraine, offering cash rewards and promising financial aid to families in the event of the death or injury of loved ones.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine could have their sperm frozen for free in ice banks.

News that the Russian state will fund sperm freezing for its armed forces follows reports in October of a surge in demand for sperm freezing after Putin announced a partial mobilization to mobilize more forces to support the Moscow war.

Moscow’s mobilization prompted hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee the country to avoid conscription.

Thousands of Ukrainians have also fled to avoid joining the war, German news agency DPA reported on Friday. The Department of Political Affairs said that “nearly 12,000 men were caught trying to cross the border illegally, heading in the direction of Western countries.”

The news agency, citing Ukrainian border forces, said 15 men had died trying to flee the country to avoid military service, including “two who reportedly froze to death in the Carpathian Mountains on their way to Romania”.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that given the scale of Russian losses in equipment and troops in Ukraine, it would take Moscow’s army at least five years to regain its former strength.

“According to NATO intelligence, the Russians have suffered heavy losses in tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers and soldiers,” Reznikov was quoted by the media Ukraineska Pravda as saying. He said: “The regular armed forces of the Russian Federation can be restored within five years at the earliest, and maybe not for 10 years.”

Reznikov did not give details of Ukraine’s armed forces, but the sides have suffered heavy losses since the war began in February.

US General Mark Milley estimated in November that about 100,000 Russian soldiers had either been killed or wounded since the February invasion. He said the armed forces in Kyiv “probably” suffered the same level of casualties.