Russia admits citizens do not want to war with Ukraine amid record losses for first time
Photo: Fewer and fewer Russians are willing to go to the front (Getty Images)
Bashkortostan has become the first Russian region whose authorities have officially acknowledged a decline in the number of citizens willing to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense, reports The Moscow Times.
Importantly, it is this republic that leads the ranking of Russian regions by the number of confirmed deaths in the war against Ukraine.
According to Mediazona, as of November 2026, the names of 11,990 Bashkortostan residents who died at the front have been identified.
The decline in the number of people willing to go to war is mentioned in the explanatory note to the republic's draft budget for 2027–2028, dated November 11.
In particular, this is cited as the reason for reducing funding for one-time payments for signing contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense - from 13.6 billion to 12.6 billion rubles.
The document explicitly states that the reason for this decision is a "decrease in the number of citizens signing contracts for military service." At the same time, local authorities have not yet changed the recruitment bonus amount, which remains at 1 million rubles, matching the national average in Russia.
In terms of confirmed deaths of participants in the so-called "Special Military Operation", Bashkortostan ranks first among Russian regions. In early 2023, the republic entered the top five regions with the highest number of deaths in Ukraine, and by September 2024, it topped this list. It has held the number one position ever since.
In July 2026, Bashkortostan became the first Russian region where the number of confirmed deaths exceeded 10,000. According to the latest Mediazona data, this figure had risen to 11,990 by November.
Thus, confirmed losses amount to nearly 0.3% of the republic's entire population. For comparison, this is roughly equivalent to the population of Moscow's Vostochny or Molzhaninovsky districts, which are home to 13,000–15,000 people. Furthermore, the number of deaths in Bashkortostan is comparable to the Soviet Union's official casualties for the entire duration of the war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), when 15,051 people died.
In parallel, Bashkortostan is facing serious financial problems. The republic is among the Russian regions where the budget deficit is felt most acutely. One of the reasons is a 38% drop in corporate income tax revenues.
By the end of the first half of 2026, Bashkortostan's budget deficit reached 17.1 billion rubles. This is nearly 71% of the amount originally planned for the entire year.
Due to a lack of funds, regional authorities are already being forced to cut spending on street lighting, reduce payments to relatives of fallen soldiers by a factor of 20, and sell off assets. In particular, the republic transferred its remaining stake in PJSC ANK Bashneft to Rosneft.
The difficult financial situation was also addressed in August by the head of Bashkortostan, Radia Khabirov. He explained that in the face of a shortage of funds, the authorities are forced to sell property, as borrowing on the market has become too expensive.
"When there is a shortage of money, the natural process is to sell what is owned, since borrowing on the market is expensive," Khabirov stated.
Incidentally, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte recently stated that the Russian army's current monthly casualties in the war against Ukraine are nearly equal to the total US casualties over 14 years in Vietnam.
Major Russian enterprises are planning to independently defend themselves against attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
