When I first heard about this story, it made me think about death benefits in general. Way back in 2003, when I was ordered back to active duty, the very first thing I was instructed to do after arriving at Fort Carson was to ensure my will was updated and sign all the required next-of-kin and death benefit documentation, declaring who I wanted as my beneficiaries.
And by “right away,” I don’t mean after I had a meal or a quick shower after traveling all day across the US. I mean right the f*** away. I remember lugging all my gear with me to the ancient barracks where clerks waited for us to struggle in. It’s some serious paperwork and I knew to have all my loved ones social security numbers handy to help speed up the process.
They didn’t want anyone hit by a bus after reporting to active duty without having an updated next of kin (NOK) to notify and someone to cut that Servicemember’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) check to. At the time I believed the death benefit to be $400,000 for SGLI if you meet your maker in a combat zone, so were not talking chump change.
This brings me to the second part of my little “war and remembrance” story. This is a cautionary tale. Apparently, one young man managed to slip through the cracks, or maybe he just told the clerks to leave everything as it was. Long story short, he was killed in combat in Iraq. To literally add insult to injury, he never updated his paperwork to reflect his wife and baby as next of kin or recipients of his death benefits. As it turned out, his old girlfriend, whom his wife despised, was still on his paperwork as the recipient of the death benefit, and the money went to her.
Now, I’m sure this was likely contested somewhere, but it was a legally binding document with his signature on it. The moral of the story is to always have your death benefit paperwork filled out to reflect your wishes because you never know what the future holds.
After that somewhat lengthy introduction (thanks for hanging in there), I’ll begin on today’s story. I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but some people get married just for the money. There are reports that this is going on in Russia right now and honestly this is nothing new in times of war.
Our story begins.
Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are being warned about so-called “black widows” — women who seduce and marry them to collect their military death benefits. As RFE/RL’s Andrey Cherkasov explains Russian social media, tabloids, and TV are full of accounts of the scams. pic.twitter.com/v8tGwbGbVm
— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) April 21, 2025
The Widowmaker’s Grift
In the shadowy bars, nightclubs, and online chatrooms (do those still exist?) of wartime Russia, a new breed of predator has emerged. Dubbed “Black Widows,” these women are not the Chechen suicide bombers of yesteryear but cunning opportunists exploiting the chaos of war for personal gain. Their weapon? Matrimony.
Reports have surfaced of women seducing Russian soldiers into hasty marriages, only to cash in on the substantial death benefits should their husbands fall in Ukraine. The Russian government offers up to 5.2 million rubles (approximately $60,000) plus a survivor’s pension to the families of fallen soldiers. For some, this grim lottery has become a calculated business plan.
Love, Lies, and Lucre
One particularly egregious case involved Marina Orlova, a real estate agent from Tomsk. In a podcast, she brazenly advised women to marry soldiers heading to Ukraine, suggesting they could later collect the death benefits and invest in property. “You find a man now who is serving [for Russia in the war], he dies, and you get 8 million rubles ($133,000),” she stated. Orlova was subsequently sentenced to 80 hours of community service for inciting hatred or enmity.
The Malvinkas: Spies in Disguise?
Beyond financial exploitation, concerns have arisen about espionage. Anastasia Kashevarova, a Russian public figure, warned of “Malvinkas”—women who not only seek monetary gain but also extract sensitive information from soldiers, potentially passing it to Ukrainian forces. “A sex agent will find out lots of things about her groom’s unit and report it to the enemy,” she noted.
Her groom? Ok.
A Nation’s Shame: What’s the Kremlin’s Take on This
The Kremlin isn’t laughing about these “Black Widow” scams—far from it. In fact, they’re furious. Under Russian law, the state hands out hefty death benefits—millions of rubles—to surviving spouses. And these women are cashing in, fast.
That runs completely counter to the image Putin and his inner circle have worked so hard to promote. In the official narrative, the wife of a fallen soldier is a sacred figure—a grieving yet honorable woman who carries the torch of patriotism. The Kremlin calls her the “hero’s wife,” and Russian state media plays that angle every chance it gets. But these schemes tear that image to shreds, and the people in power don’t like having their illusions messed with.
Outrage is boiling over in Russia’s patriotic circles. State-run news outlets and social media are lit up with commentary slamming these women as frauds, parasites, and criminals. A lot of voices are calling for jail time. One case that caused a particular stir involved a real estate agent in Tomsk who publicly told women to marry soldiers just to get the payout and use the money to buy property. The courts hit her with community service, but the damage was already done. That clip went viral, and the backlash was swift.
But here’s the part that’s really keeping some folks in Moscow awake at night: the security angle. Bloggers and former intel officers are starting to suggest that some of these so-called Black Widows might not just be after a payout—they could be fishing for military secrets. Marry a young soldier, cozy up to him, get the details on his unit or his deployment, and leak it to the Ukrainians? That’s dirty… and dangerous. Suddenly, this isn’t just a domestic fraud issue; it’s a potential national security breach.
So yeah, the Kremlin hates these scams. They undercut the patriotic narrative, they make a mockery of state propaganda, and they open the door to espionage. That’s three strikes in Putin’s book. Russia is in the middle of a costly and controversial war, and the government is trying hard to rally public support by painting soldiers and their families as selfless heroes. The last thing they want is headlines about young women gaming the system for real estate and rubles.
These scams are being treated as a serious problem, not just by the Kremlin, but by Russian media and the public. And while the authorities haven’t exactly rounded up an army of Black Widows just yet, they’re watching closely—and they’re not happy. This kind of grift doesn’t just cheat the system, it chips away at the entire narrative that the Russian government has built around honor, sacrifice, and national pride.
If there’s one thing you can count on in authoritarian regimes, it’s that they hate losing control of the story. And right now, these women are rewriting the script.
The Human Cost
Amid the scams and schemes, genuine stories of loss persist. Yulia Ivkina, the 23-year-old widow of a 19-year-old soldier killed in Ukraine, expressed her grief: “It would be better if I could have my husband back. No money would be needed.” Her sentiment underscores the profound human toll behind the statistics and scandals.
Wrapping Up
In the fog of war, where valor meets vulnerability, the emergence of these “Black Widows” adds another layer of tragedy. As Russia grapples with the consequences of its actions in Ukraine, the exploitation of its soldiers by those they trust most serves as a dark reminder: in war, not all wounds are inflicted by the enemy.