One of the most acute problems facing the Russian Army is that of low wages. According to surveys conducted by the sociological and legal wings of the Defense Ministry's Chief Educational Department, 98 percent of career officers defined their material situation as either bad or very bad.

The department's head, Capt. Ruslan Galiyev, said that surveys show the average monthly income of a three-person military family, in which the wife, as a rule, doesn't work, is only 480 rubles ($17) – 1.4 times lower than the official living minimum for the country.

"This low standard of living is the scourge of Russian society," said Chief Educational Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Nikolai Burdyga. "President Putin has promised to end it, but I think this will be immensely difficult.

"A lieutenant today earns $50 a month, the same as what the cleaning woman in my building earns. A strategic missile-forces division commander earns $150 a month, similar to what a waitress in some obscure restaurant, or a Moscow tram driver, gets. If the state doubles our wages, this will almost double budget spending, and that's not realistic at the moment," Burdyga said.

Burdyga noted that cultural and leisure activities can help bring the tension down temporarily, but words won't fill hungry stomachs. In his department's estimates, 80 percent of officers have to look for an additional source of income in order to feed their families. But that doesn't mean they necessarily find this income. For officers in isolated garrisons, for example, finding other work can be impossible, though there are other solutions.

One officer, sent to the Ashuluk testing ground in Kazakstan, explained how he and his fellow soldiers rented some land from a collective farm and spent their free time growing potatoes, vegetables and melons. Some officers kept pigs and sheep at the testing ground.

Officers stationed in towns don't have that luxury, however. Col. Yevgeny Lakhtin, who serves in Moscow, guards a factory at night, and his neighbor, a senior warrant officer, earns some extra money renovating apartments during the weekends. In a city like Moscow, officers who can't find an extra job have a very tough time financially. Some are lucky that their wives have found well-paying jobs, but for some colonels or generals, it's a humiliating situation to have to rely on what money the wife can bring home.

"I often wonder where our officers get the patience to endure it all," said military sociologist Sergei Solovyev. "They earn a pittance, but they go to fight in Chechnya or patrol on submarines, risking and losing their lives. Most officers want to stay in the armed forces, and see their financial difficulties as temporary. I think this is all linked to certain features of the Russian national character such as endurance, optimism, and a dose of an overly carefree attitude."

Strategic missile forces guards unit commander Lt. Gen. Alexander Konarev said that the Army's financial problems couldn't be dissociated from the problems facing the Russian economy as a whole.

"The whole country has it tough at the moment, so why should the military have it easy?" Konarev said. "Let them pay us what they do, but at least let them pay us on time. The main thing is, the government shouldn't abolish our housing subsidies and the right to free transport, as I've heard they want to do. The consequences could be unpredictable."

Solovyev expressed concern that if the armed forces' material situation deteriorated further, soldiers could become more politicized. "I don't think there'll be a military coup here like there was in say, Egypt or Chile," Solovyev said, "but it would further destabilize the army and be a disincentive for many to serve the Motherland. You can't just keep ignoring the human factor, even in a country like Russia."