Bloomberg: Payments to families of dead Wagner Group fighters has flooded Russian economy with cash

Since September 2022, when Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s mobilization drive, the amount of cash circulating in the country has increased at a record rate, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The outlet linked the rise to the compensation payments the Wagner Group paramilitary cartel gives to families of dead fighters.

Bloomberg noted that the increase in cash circulating in Russia has been going on nearly without interruption for the last 10 months, a period that coincides with the battle for Bakhmut, where Wagner Group fighters played a major role. The cumulative amount of excess cash in circulation during this period was reportedly about 2.2 trillion rubles (about $26 million). Families of Wagner mercenaries killed in Ukraine are usually given 5 million rubles ($59,200) in compensation, which some fighters’ relatives have reported receiving in cash.