Krasnoyarsk police report forced donations for Ukraine invasion funding
Employees of the Krasnoyarsk police have voiced complaints about forced donations in Russia for the needs of troops participating in the Ukraine invasion funding.
Officers told the NGS24 publication they were instructed to transfer one day's salary, an amount reaching approximately three thousand rubles for senior personnel.
The police officers explained that while the contributions are formally listed as voluntary, the money is collected via an internal list, and management threatens to cancel performance bonuses for those who refuse to pay. The Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnoyarsk region confirmed the campaign, titled “A Day for the Front and Victory,” but insisted on its "voluntary" nature, as reported by The Moscow Times.
Representatives of the "Popular Front" charitable foundation, which receives the funds, stated that the money will be used to purchase specialized equipment for the military, including cross-type motorcycles, "Bulat" drone detectors, Mavic quadcopters, radio stations, and inverter generators. They emphasized, "There are never too many resources" for the ongoing effort.
Similar cases of salary deductions occur frequently in various regions across Russia.
Previously, residents in four subjects of Siberia and the Far East reported being asked to transfer a portion of their monthly pay "for the needs of the SVO." These mandatory payments ranged between one and six thousand rubles, sometimes exceeding 15% of an individual's total income. The practice particularly targets state employees and military personnel who fear refusing due to threats of dismissal or being sent "to the front line."
In February, "Sever.Realii" reported on similar demands in St. Petersburg, where local companies began demanding in a voluntary-mandatory manner that employees transfer funds to the army. The Joint Stock Company "TEK," for instance, collected "voluntary" requests for a portion of salaries to be directed to the "SVO." Refusal resulted in threats of losing performance bonuses, which often constituted up to half of the employees' total earnings.
The pattern extended elsewhere. In November 2023, employees of kindergartens, libraries, and schools in the Saratov region were asked to donate part of their salary for the needs of war participants. In the summer of the same year, staff at the Budarinsk psychoneurological boarding school in the Volgograd region also complained about the "voluntary-obligatory" collections, pointing out that "they too have families to feed."
Translation by Iurie Tataru
