Russian TV: Family Feuds Over War Death Payouts Become Primetime Drama

Russia - Ekhbary News Agency

Russian TV: Family Feuds Over War Death Payouts Become Primetime Drama

In a stark reflection of the profound social and emotional toll of Russia's protracted conflict in Ukraine, state-controlled television channels are increasingly becoming arenas for bitter family disputes centered around compensation for soldiers killed in action. Programs that once focused on societal issues are now dedicating significant airtime to airing personal grievances, transforming private tragedies into televised dramas and raising questions about the role of state media in normalizing the human cost of war.

The ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year, has created a complex economic landscape within Russia. Generous cash incentives for contract soldiers, coupled with substantial multimillion-ruble payments designated for the families of those killed, have inadvertently fueled disputes over inheritance, child custody, and allegations of fraud. These financial windfalls, sometimes colloquially referred to as "coffin money," have become a focal point for intense family conflicts, many of which are now being broadcast to a national audience.

One prominent example of this trend is the Channel One talk show "Muzhskoe-Zhenskoe" (Male-Female), co-hosted by television personalities Alexander Gordon and Yulia Baronovskaya. The long-running program typically features emotionally charged family conflicts, where guests air their grievances before a live studio audience. Hosts often interject with pointed questions, commentary, and sometimes call for interventions from officials or social services.

In a recent episode that garnered over a million views on the show's YouTube channel, Galina Simagina, a woman from the Chelyabinsk region, was depicted in a heated feud with her in-laws over entitlement to state compensation for her husband's death in Ukraine. Simagina took the unconventional step of bringing her dispute to national television, accusing her late husband's family of alienating her two children and severing contact. "Stop lying! I’m taking my children anyway, and I won’t give them to you," Simagina declared on camera to her mother-in-law. The show's hosts subsequently labeled her a "kukushka" (cuckoo), a pejorative Russian term for a mother perceived as having abandoned her children.

Another case highlighted on the show involved Alyona Yermilova, a widow from the republic of Udmurtia. Her husband, who was serving a prison sentence, had signed a contract to fight in Ukraine with the Wagner mercenary group and was killed in combat in November 2022. Yermilova admitted to rapidly spending the state payout, explaining, "Maybe I was in such a state that I didn’t understand what I was doing." Footage presented to the audience showed her living with her children in a dilapidated three-room apartment, describing their living conditions as worse than those of homeless people. A thank-you letter from a Kremlin-appointed official in occupied Luhansk hung alongside Wagner Group medals in her home, a stark juxtaposition of the war's impact.

The program's hosts did not address why Yermilova's husband was imprisoned. By the end of the episode, the hosts called for child welfare authorities to strip her of parental rights, illustrating the show's tendency towards dramatic resolutions that often involve state intervention. This approach raises concerns about due process and the potential for public shaming to influence legal outcomes.

Further complicating the narrative are scams targeting soldiers and their families. A recurring theme on "Muzhskoe-Zhenskoe" and other Russian state television programs involves "black widows" – single women allegedly marrying low-income men, encouraging them to enlist, and then claiming multimillion-ruble payouts if they are killed. Journalist Ira Novik noted that this scam has become "a well-oiled operation in Russia," sometimes involving corrupt enlistment officers or registry staff to facilitate the process.

In one instance, Yulia Skrylnikova, the mother of a fallen soldier, sought to prevent her daughter-in-law, Karina, from receiving compensation payments for her grandson, whom Skrylnikova claimed was not her son's biological child despite the soldier acknowledging him. "She never loved my son," Skrylnikova stated about her daughter-in-law. Russian law dictates that compensation is reserved for immediate family members, but disputes over paternity and legal rights are becoming common, often playing out dramatically on screen.

Scenes of widows visiting their husbands' gravesites are also frequent, adding a layer of emotional intensity. Karina Skrylnikova, the widow, confessed on camera, "Your relatives are harassing me," while addressing her deceased husband. It was later revealed that she had not lived with her husband and did not attend his funeral, having previously been married to another serviceman killed in the war.

Critics argue that such televised narratives risk trivializing the war by reframing it as mere domestic conflict and personal drama. Journalist Novik pointed out that narratives promoted by Russian propagandists often "normalize death in war, and often glorify it." The focus on these personal tragedies, while compelling for viewers, distracts from the larger geopolitical context and the sustained human cost that extends far beyond these individual family disputes.

Ekhbary News Agency