Some women in Russia have been accused of tricking gullible men into fictitious marriages before sending them to be killed on the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Oddity Central reported on Friday.
When Russian soldiers die in war, their spouses or closest relatives receive lump sums of money ranging from five million rubles (about $64,000) and sometimes exceeding eight million rubles (about $100,000).
This is the government’s way of assuring recruits that if, or rather when, they lose their lives on the battlefield, their families will be taken care of. It is a simple system and apparently easily exploited by ruthless speculators.
Since the war between Russia and Ukraine began, Russian media has been reporting on so-called “black widows,” women who approach and trick men into marriage only to then send them to war and collect their compensation check as soon as they are killed.
For example, Cable News Network (CNN) recently sat down with Maria, a 37-year-old woman from St. Petersburg whose father was recently shot on the front lines in Ukraine.
He didn’t even know that his father had enlisted in the Russian army, nor that he had married a woman 22 years his junior, who apparently had no problem sending him off to war just two days after they married.
That same woman, whom María never even met, conveniently collected compensation after the man’s death on the war front.
“I’m still in shock and I still can’t accept what happened,” Maria said.
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“At first it felt like a dream. Even now, sometimes I wake up thinking I must have dreamed it all. But it’s really happening. I haven’t even spoken to this woman. I don’t know what to tell her because I immediately suspected it was a scam,” he added.
The black widow phenomenon is no secret in Russia. It is openly discussed online, even though the government disapproves of those who make claims they cannot prove.
For example, in a viral clip, a real estate agent talked about women who marry men who go to war just so they can collect compensation after their death and buy a house.
“It’s very simple,” real estate agent Marina Orlova said with a laugh. “Find a man who is serving in the Special Military Operation, and when he is killed, you will get eight million rubles. Some women are buying cheap apartments like that nowadays. It’s a business.”
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