Dictionary

kontraktnik en · NOUN

Etymology

From Russian контра́ктник (kontráktnik, literally “contractor, contractee”), from контракт (kontrakt, “contract”) + -ник (-nik, “profession, performer”).

Meanings

1. A voluntary professional soldier of Russia under contract (not a conscript soldier).
   • Shortly after, I was saved by women when kontraktniki were about to shoot me. 2015, Arne Peter Braaksma, “Khassan Baiev, Chechnya: Operating on friends and enemies while under fire”, in Human Dignity: Eleven Defenders of Human Rights at Close Range, The Hague: PixelPerfect Publications, →ISBN, page 134:
   • The SV manning goal is a total of 350,000 officers, noncommissioned officers (warrant officers), kontraktniki, and conscript soldiers. 2024, United States Department of the Army, “Russian Military Overview”, in Russian Tactics (Army Techniques Publication, No. 7-100.1, Change No. 1), Washingtn, D.C., page 2-14:
   • There is a lot of concern about conscripts being strong-armed in to signing contracts, becoming kontraktniki. 2022 August 6, “Sturgeon Twitter spat that recycled a myth about Putin’s war on Ukraine”, in The Herald on Saturday, 240th year, number 165, Glasgow, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 5:
   • The kontraktniki, some with criminal backgrounds, others veterans of police and military units, are among the most feared of Russian forces, and the ones most often alleged to have committed atrocities. 2000 February 28, Olivia Ward, “Nightmare of Russian violence reported by Chechens”, in The Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton, Ont., →ISSN, →OCLC, page F10, column 5:

Forms

Coordinates

conscript · military contractor · soldier · soldier of fortune · mercenary · draftee · volunteer

Relateds

appeasenik · refusenik · nogoodnik · warnik · draftnik · peacenik · -nik