By Sultan Musayev | 2026-03-26

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine worry about many things. Now their wives have a new one: getting fired while their husbands are at the front. A proposal by a senior Russian lawmaker would ban employers from dismissing servicemembers' spouses, but analysts warn it could make their situation worse, not better, pushing companies to quietly stop hiring them in the first place.

In February, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection calling for the ban. Exceptions would apply only when a company closes or an individual entrepreneur ceases operations.

"The social security of family members and the service member's confidence that their family's position is stable are critically important factors in maintaining the morale of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces," Slutsky wrote.

A gap in the safety net

Russian labor law already provides some protections for this group. Under Article 179 of the Labor Code, spouses of mobilized servicemembers with a minor child receive priority over workers of equal qualifications when layoffs occur. Article 259 bars employers from sending such spouses on business trips, requiring overtime or overnight shifts, or assigning weekend work, without their written consent, if the family has a child under 14.

In 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a separate bill prohibiting employers from firing widows of military personnel within one year of their husband's death. But a dismissal ban for active spouses does not exist. And complaints about firings keep coming in. Members of parliament and civic organizations including the Defenders of the Fatherland foundation regularly receive reports of spouses being pushed out during staff cuts and reorganizations.

In October 2025, an Irkutsk outlet reported on the wife of a servicemember who was forced out of her salesperson job after her employer withheld her salary for nine months. The company ultimately owed her more than 100,000 RUB (approximately $1,100). Russia does not track labor violations against this category of worker.

'Basic pragmatism'

Analysts say the firings reflect economics, not politics.

Sanzhar Doszhanov, a business consultant and former head of corporate customer relations at ATFBank in Kazakhstan, said some company bosses may be unpatriotic, but the more likely explanation is simpler.

"For businesses these are inconvenient workers: according to the law employers can't force them to work additional hours without their consent, and they may be under constant stress due to a child or concern about their husband, and consequently, they are not very productive," Doszhanov told Kontur.

He added that the benefits and preferential treatment given to servicemembers' spouses are effectively paid by businesses, not the state -- a social burden companies bear on the government's behalf.

Islam Baigarayev, a prominent Kyrgyz lawyer who directs the Bishkek Bar Association, said the official rhetoric of "unprecedented public unity and patriotism" amounts to standard Kremlin propaganda.

In reality, the public has grown indifferent to others' problems.

"Everyone understands that rhetorically you can support a shared idea but in practice you're acting in the way that benefits you," Baigarayev told Kontur.

Ban could breed hidden discrimination

The proposed law may do more harm than good, analysts warn. An HR specialist at a Moscow company, who asked not to be identified, said the ban would lead employers to screen out such candidates from the start.

"HR managers will weed out those kinds of candidates because it will be virtually impossible to fire them later on even if they're truly incompetent," the specialist told Kontur. "So these measures could lead to hidden discrimination."

The broader economic backdrop makes the problem worse. Russian companies are operating under acute strain. A late 2025 survey by the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences found that demand and sales had fallen to their lowest level since 1998; in some industries, production dropped more than 60%.

"Under these conditions, businesses will do everything they can to try to cut costs and optimize savings, not be benevolent," Doszhanov said. "But it's as if the officials in Russia are living in an alternate reality."