"Russian Military HIV Infections Surge by 2,000%... Is Forced Recruitment Amid Troop Shortages to Blame?"

Carnegie Politika Analyzes HIV Infection Rate in Russian Military
Twentyfold Increase by Early 2024 Compared to Prewar Levels
Russia Enlists HIV-Positive Prisoners in 2023

There has been a claim that the rate of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections among Russian soldiers has surged by 2,000% since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. On August 1 (local time), Ukrainian media outlet Kyiv Independent reported, "According to the 'Carnegie Politika' report published by the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, the number of new HIV infections confirmed in the Russian military from the first quarter of 2022, when the war in Ukraine began, until the fall of the same year increased fivefold compared to before the war." The number of new infections reportedly rose thirteenfold by the end of 2022 and twentyfold by early 2024.

This image shows Russian soldiers during training and is not related to the specific content of the article. Photo by AP Yonhap News

HIV is the causative pathogen of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Not everyone who contracts HIV becomes an AIDS patient. An AIDS patient is someone whose immune cells are destroyed due to HIV infection, resulting in reduced immune function and the onset of various infections and symptoms.

The causes cited for the increased HIV infection rate in the Russian military include blood transfusions, the use of contaminated syringes in field hospitals, sexual contact, and sharing syringes for drug injection. The report particularly noted that cases involving sexual contact and sharing of drug injection syringes were prevalent.

It has been reported that in 2023, as the Russian government faced a shortage of troops to deploy to the war in Ukraine, they enlisted large numbers of prisoners, including murderers, drug offenders, and those who were HIV-positive. There were also testimonies that the government threatened HIV-positive prisoners by saying that if they remained in prison, they would not be provided with effective HIV treatment. According to Ukrainian authorities at that time, it was estimated that 20% of Russian prisoners who participated in the war in Ukraine were HIV carriers. The Russian military made it mandatory for soldiers who were HIV carriers and those with hepatitis C to wear red and white rubber bracelets, respectively, to distinguish between the two groups.

While the global HIV infection rate is declining, statistics show that only in Russia is the infection rate increasing. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), since 2022, Russia has accounted for 3.9% of new HIV infections worldwide, ranking fifth globally. The number of new HIV infections peaked in the 1990s and has since declined by more than half, but in Russia, there are still 50,000 to 100,000 new cases reported annually.

There are also projections that the increase in HIV infection rates could result in significant losses for Russia in the future. The report pointed out, "The demographic and economic losses that Russia will experience due to (HIV) outbreaks will have an impact for decades and could surpass the losses incurred from the invasion of Ukraine."