Job Ads Lead to the Front Line

The independent publication Verstka uncovered a scheme in which individuals are recruited into the Russian army with the promise of work as drivers, security guards, or construction workers, with reassurances that the roles are non-combat and unrelated to military activity in Russia's ongoing War on Ukraine. However, these roles fall under general contracts with the Ministry of Defense, which do not offer such guarantees.

In recent weeks, increasing numbers of men have been arriving at Moscow’s military contract recruitment center, hoping to secure multimillion-ruble payments while avoiding front-line deployment. A source in the Moscow mayor’s office, familiar with army recruitment data, told Verstka that this trend is new.

“This definitely didn’t happen before, but now literally every day someone says, ‘I’ll just go as a plumber,’” the source said.

Dozens of misleading job ads have appeared on Avito, Russia’s largest classified ad site. Employers using names such as “Zashchitniki Rodiny” (“Defenders of the Motherland”) or “ZOV — Okhrana Tyla” (“ZOV — Rear Guard”) offer roles as humanitarian aid drivers, fortification builders, and guards for newly occupied territories.

Many of these ads were posted in recent months, some as recently as May. Despite promising rear-area work, the listings almost always involve signing a military contract that includes combat.

A Verstka journalist responded to one such ad and quickly received a message via WhatsApp from a man claiming to be with the Moscow administration. He described the process: The applicant submits paperwork to the administration, receives a train ticket to Smolensk, travels there, undergoes a medical exam, signs a contract, and is supposedly assigned to an engineering unit as a builder.

Recruits are told they’ll be trained in their chosen specialty and assigned to relevant units. However, two sources in the Moscow mayor’s office told Verstka that these roles and administrative processes do not exist.

“This is a shameless scam,” said one source, adding that the military is behind the scheme and is working with contractors to draw more men into the war.

One source explained how the deception works: A man from a regional town sees a driver job ad on Avito, travels to a shady office in Moscow, and is told he’ll be transporting supplies under a one-year contract — supposedly in the “gray zone,” a term often used to describe areas near active combat.

“Everyone profits from these men — the internet recruiters, the travel organizers, the contract officers, even the military,” the source said.

Ads are often posted by recruiters who identify themselves as working for “military recruiting agencies.” Two such recruiters confirmed to Verstka that promises of rear-area jobs are false.

“They’ll say, ‘Yes, come, we give you a 100% guarantee you’ll be in a construction battalion or a driver,’” one recruiter said. “But it’s the unit commanders who decide everything. If they assign you as a rifleman, you can’t get out of it.”

Another recruiter said it’s impossible to know where a so-called volunteer will be deployed. According to Verstka, the scam primarily targets men from small towns and rural areas. Recruiters often cover travel expenses to Moscow or other cities and process the recruits upon arrival.