A Russian realtor was sentenced to 80 hours of community service for advising female clients to marry soldiers being deployed to the Ukraine war – with the argument that the men would be killed in combat and the new widows could receive a generous compensation from the military that could be used to obtain housing.
The Russian news site Meduza reports Marina Orlova created what she described as a “business plan” for her clients, who were facing problems in affording apartments in Russia’s increasingly expensive housing market. By marrying “special military operation” participants, she theorized, the women would collect an 8 million ruble ($95,400) payout if their new husbands died in battle.
Orlova’s scheme was revealed in a video conversation with blogger Darya Cherdantseva, who was sentenced to 85 hours of community service for sharing this scheme online. Cherdantseva apologized for publishing Orlova’s comments, calling them “dark humor” and “a joke between friends,” while Orlova stated she didn’t expect Cherdantseva to share their discussion online.
