Russian Commanders Seize Soldiers’ Bank Cards Before Assaults

The Etymology and Reality of “Obnulenije”

Originally popularized during a 2020 political maneuver in which Vladimir Putin reset his presidential terms to allow rule until 2036, the term “obnulenije” has acquired a lethal meaning within military files. According to 46 documents in the leaked database, including a letter written by a 15-year-old girl named Anastassia to the human rights commissioner, the word now denotes the elimination of a soldier by his own command. Anastassia wrote that her 51-year-old mobilized father faced a choice between signing a contract or being sent to assault missions designated for obnulenije. Researchers identified cases where commanders locked men in pits, beat them, or forced them into fatal assaults under this designation.

Logistical Categories of Death and Injury

The ethnographic dictionary compiled by Archipova and Lapshin outlines a system that treats combatants through a strict bureaucratic framework. Airspace monitored by drones is categorized as a “clean sky” or a “dirty sky,” depending on tactical surveillance. Soldiers deployed into high-risk areas are termed “meat” in “meat assaults.” According to the source material, casualties are systematically categorized: a dead soldier becomes a “two-hundredth,” while a wounded soldier left on the field is a “three-hundredth.” Incapacitated wounded personnel, referred to as “kalitschi” or cripples, are frequently retained for auxiliary labor or sent back into combat because their ongoing status or eventual disappearance generates financial returns.

Financial Extraction and the “Bank Card” Economy

The economic machinery of the conflict relies directly on soldiers’ salary and combat bonuses disbursed via bank cards. According to documents and accounts from deserters cited in the research, commanders routinely demand soldiers hand over their bank cards and PIN codes prior to assault missions. Retaining a soldier’s card allows commanders to continue collecting funds, making a dead or missing soldier—a “dead soul”—more financially lucrative than a living one. In parallel, kremlin-aligned bloggers and local recruiters have documented cases involving “black widows”—women who enter contract marriages to collect payout funds upon a soldier’s death, though researchers note these arrangements are frequently organized by syndicates involving recruiters and civil officials.

Coercion, Pits, and Refusers

Military units utilize deep, grated earthen pits as disciplinary and extortion tools to compel soldiers to sign contracts or return to the front. Deserters described being beaten, doused with water, or subjected to electric shocks from field telephones until they complied or paid off commanders. Soldiers who reject these conditions are classified as “otkasniki,” or refusers. While family members state in their submissions that their relatives are not attempting desertion but simply refusing to alter their legal status through formal contracts, the administrative response involves isolation, confinement in unofficial unit prisons, and threats of immediate deployment to penal assault companies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the “Ethnographic Dictionary of the War”?

It is a collection of 77 linguistic entries compiled by anthropologist Alexandra Archipova and psychologist Yuri Lapshin. The dictionary analyzes 6,739 war-related submissions from a leaked database of nearly 9,500 appeals sent to the Russian human rights commissioner between April and September 2025.

What does the term “obnulenije” mean in military files?

While the word was used in 2020 to describe the resetting of presidential term limits, the leaked military documents show it now signifies the physical elimination or violent punishment of soldiers by their own commanding officers.

How are bank cards used in military units according to the leaked records?

According to documents and deserter testimonies, commanders frequently confiscate soldiers’ salary cards and PIN codes before assaults to continue drawing their pay and combat bonuses after they are killed or reported missing.

Who are the “otkasniki”?

Otkasniki refers to mobilized men or contract soldiers who refuse to sign binding military service agreements or decline to participate in high-risk tactical assaults.