"Is it forbidden to give up on SVO participants?" Russian military personnel bombard Russian authorities in Crimea with complaints

The Russian authorities are luring Crimeans into war with Ukraine with generous promises: from millions in payments and plots of land in the coastal part of Crimea to numerous social benefits. But behind this ostentatious facade lies a hidden side: participants in the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine and their families are massively complaining about the Russian authorities in Crimea. Most of the complaints are hidden from the public, but Crimea.Realities managed to study the trends. In our article, we explore what promises are being made to Russian military personnel in Crimea and why they are ultimately left stranded.
In annexed Crimea, the Russian authorities have declared that serving the participants in the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine is a priority. Officials proclaim the protection of their rights and a priority response to their demands. But in practice, participants in the war with Ukraine and their families have been forced to knock on the doors of the Russian authorities for years, seeking benefits guaranteed by law. Their problems usually remain in bureaucratic offices and become public only when results are not achieved.
The Russian Commissioner for Human Rights, Alexander Shtekhbart, reports widespread complaints from Russian military personnel. Of the total number of complaints he received in 2025, the majority - a total of 271 complaints - were from participants in the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and their families, according to his report for the past year, which was reviewed by the Crimean parliament in April.
The number of such complaints is growing every year. In 2023, the Russian ombudsman in Crimea registered 104 complaints from Russian military personnel and their families, and in 2024, 236.
Fighting without status
The main problem for many participants in the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the uncertainty of their status. Russian authorities do not recognize members of Russian private military companies and those recruited from prison as war veterans, and therefore cannot receive the benefits promised to them when signing contracts. This was the subject of numerous complaints to the Russian Ombudsman of Crimea in 2024, as previously reported by Krym.Realii.
In late 2025, at the initiative of the Russian Ombudsman of Crimea, the Russian law "On Veterans" was amended to recognize veteran status for those who participated in the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and fought in special forces of military units, under contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, this did not solve the problem, notes Alexander Shtehbart. 
“The failure to obtain the status of a war veteran deprived the participants of Operation Storm Z of the opportunity to undergo examination by military medical commissions of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which, in turn, affected the receipt of possible payments for injuries and treatment. The commissioners’ initiatives were fully approved in the amended Federal Law No. 5-FZ “On Veterans” of January 12, 1995. War veterans are defined as persons who signed agreements with the Russian Ministry of Defense between October 1, 2022 and September 1, 2023. However, the procedure for issuing war veteran certificates to these persons has not yet been established. Complaints from citizens in this category are still being monitored by human rights organizations,” said Shtehbart.
"The Kursk issue"
Problems with recognizing the status and receiving social benefits also arise for participants in the battles for the Kursk region in the Russian Federation. This issue is not legally regulated in the Russian Federation.
"The residents of Crimea also faced this problem. The wife of a missing soldier contacted the Crimean Ombudsman, because she did not agree with the decision to deny her husband a certificate of participation in the Special Military Operation (as Russia calls its full-scale invasion of Ukraine - KR). He disappeared while performing tasks in the special military operation, therefore his wife considers him to be a participant in the Special Military Operation, regardless of whether the tasks were carried out in the Special Military Operation zone or on the territory of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation located near the Special Military Operation area. Due to the denial of a certificate of participation in the Special Military Operation, the soldier and his family members are deprived of the right to receive social support provided for by federal and regional legislation," says Alexander Shtekhbart.
Back in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the lack of the status of "participant of the Second Military Operation" for Russian soldiers fighting in the Kursk region "a failure of the military department" and promised that they would "receive everything that is due to them."
"Based on the above, we believe that combat missions assigned to soldiers in the territories of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation bordering the areas of the Second Military Operation (the full invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation - KR) are carried out, among other things, to achieve the goals of the Second Military Operation, and soldiers assigned to such missions (regardless of their location) should have the same rights as soldiers in other areas of combat contact," believes the Russian Ombudsman for Crimea.
He proposes issuing certificates of participation in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine to Russian citizens who "perform SVO tasks" (full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine - KR) in the territories controlled by the "DNR" and "LNR" groups, as well as in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, and "tasks of repelling an armed invasion of Russian territory during provocations on the Russian state border and in the territories of constituent entities bordering the SVO areas".
There was no public reaction from the Russian authorities to this.
"War" for benefits
More than half of the complaints from families of Russian military personnel sent to the Russian Ombudsman of Crimea in 2025 concerned the determination of the whereabouts of Russian military personnel. The complainants claim that Russian military units issue incorrectly filled-in death certificates to the families of deceased participants in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This creates problems with receiving regional social support. In order to obtain correctly filled out documents, they have to appeal to various agencies. This is often unsuccessful.
Families of missing Crimean contract soldiers complain that the Russian authorities in Crimea refuse to reimburse them for housing and utility costs.
“The mother of a missing participant in the SVO (Russian invasion of Ukraine - KR) from the Pervomaysky district turned to the Commissioner with a request for assistance in obtaining social support for housing and utility services. The soldier signed a contract in April 2024, and went missing in action in May 2024 during the Second Military Operation. His right to compensation arose in April 2024. However, due to improper organization of the process of obtaining documents via interdepartmental electronic communication, this support measure was not provided to family members in 2024. After the Commissioner’s intervention, the applicant was granted compensation,” the report states.
At the end of 2025, the number of "SVO" (as Russia calls its full-scale invasion of Ukraine - KR) participants in Crimea who were eligible for social assistance was more than 20,000, according to a report by Alexander Shtehbart, citing information from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian government of Crimea. At the beginning of 2025, according to the same data, there were 12,600.

The accuracy of this data cannot be verified.
The Russian head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, confirms that complaints from participants in the war with Ukraine and their families are among the main topics in more than 8,000 complaints he received in March and April of this year. He also assures that "extensive work is being carried out" in the region to ensure their social security.
"Complaints are being forwarded back and forth, writing formal responses is prohibited," he emphasizes.
In practice, this is exactly what participants in the war with Ukraine in Crimea complain about.
The exact number of Crimean soldiers who have died in the Russian army since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine remains unknown. The Russian authorities do not disclose this information.
Crimea.Realities has identified at least 2,000 Russian soldiers from the Crimean peninsula who were killed during military operations against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian presidential representative in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reports the deaths of at least 3,000 Russian soldiers from units stationed in Crimea. Of those, 1,500 were probably Ukrainian citizens, the representative noted.