Russia's Veteran Elevator

Independent Russian outlet Meduza found that more than 1,000 participants in Russia’s War on Ukraine have received government or government-linked posts. The trend is growing: more veterans are entering state structures. But Meduza’s data shows the war has worked as a career elevator mainly for those who already had access to power.

In June 2026, Meduza compiled a database from open sources of 1,305 war participants who, after the start of the full-scale invasion, either won local or regional elections or were appointed to government bodies and public organizations with significant state involvement.

Theirs is a conservative estimate. Not all veterans appear in open sources, and the real number is likely much higher. The ruling party Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia) Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has said about 1,500 returning soldiers became local deputies for the ruling party. Meduza identified only 432.

Yet even the incomplete data shows the scale of the process. War participants are winning municipal and regional seats and receiving posts in administrations, ministries, governors’ offices, state funds, schools, universities, veterans’ groups and "patriotic" projects.

The pace is accelerating. Meduza found 45 such appointments in 2023, at least 201 in 2024 and at least 754 in 2025. From January through May 2026, there were at least 311.

The appointments are unevenly distributed. Moscow Oblast leads with 76, followed by Bashkortostan with 41, Tatarstan with 37, Russian-occupied Crimea and Sevastopol with 30, and the Samara region with 30.

At first glance, the figures appear to support the Kremlin’s claim that war participants are moving into power en masse. But the data suggests this is not a genuine "social elevator from the front." Many appointees were already tied to the state before the war.

Of the 1,305 people who received appointments or mandates after taking part in the war, 447 had prior experience in state or municipal structures. Another 303 had professional military backgrounds, and 98 had worked in law enforcement or security agencies. The categories partly overlap, but Meduza found that at least 848 had backgrounds resembling state service before the war.

In short, the war has become a career elevator, but primarily for former officials, deputies, municipal employees, career officers, security-service veterans and people connected to regional elites. Ordinary soldiers remain a clear minority among those entering state-linked structures.

Some returning soldiers have complained that meaningful jobs remain out of reach. In May 2025, a former soldier from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug told President Vladimir Putin that he was unable to find work, despite official promises. He later told journalists that leadership posts go to "the right people."

There are several main routes into office. The first is through the federal Vremya Geroev (Time of Heroes) program and its regional versions. At least 446 people in Meduza’s database received appointments this way. The programs include selection, training, mentorship, internships, and employment in state bodies or affiliated organizations. The second route is elections, mostly at the municipal and regional levels. These seats offer public status, but rarely offer significant influence.

The third is the continuation of an existing career. For some appointees, the war was less an entry point into power than an accelerator within it. Georgy Andreyev, for example, had been Yakutia’s deputy minister for innovation, digital development, and communications since February 2020. He went to war in August 2024 and, less than a year later, became the republic’s minister of entrepreneurship, trade, and tourism.

Two senior regional officials told Meduza that veterans are usually placed in jobs not tied to major budgets or high-stakes work. These posts often involve youth policy, "patriotic" education, veteran affairs or security. They may sound impressive — department head, deputy minister, or even minister — but they leave little room for costly mistakes. Open-source data supports that pattern. Nearly half of all new appointments, mandates, and public roles are municipal: 656 of 1,311. Regional posts account for 570 and federal posts for only 85.