About 2,000 ads seeking guards for “mobile fire groups” at warehouses run by Russian e-commerce giants Wildberries and Ozon have appeared on the online classifieds site Avito since Aug. 17, the exiled independent Russian outlet Verstka reported today. Recruiters are offering candidates a one-year contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry, claiming that those who sign up will not be sent to fight in Ukraine. However, sources interviewed by the outlet said the vacancies are a cover for ordinary recruitment of contract soldiers.
Almost all of the ads bear the same headline: “Security for Wildberries and Ozon warehouses as part of a [mobile fire] group.” The ads urge applicants to sign a contract before the start of “mobilization processes,” promising a one-time up-front bonus of 3.1 million rubles ($37,000). The application deadline listed in the ads was Aug. 15 — two days before they actually appeared en masse.
A Verstka correspondent, posing as a job seeker, called the phone numbers listed in two of the ads. Recruiters said candidates would sign a one-year “special contract” with Russia's Ministry of Defense, then get to work defending commercial warehouses from drones. One recruiter said Wildberries itself had allegedly asked the ministry to arrange such security measures.
The recruiters assured the journalist that those who signed the contract would not be sent to the front lines in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the registration procedure does not differ from ordinary recruitment for the invasion: candidates are asked to hand over their documents, sign a contract with the Defense Ministry, and undergo training in Tula. One recruiter warned that without an application filed through him, the applicant would be sent by the enlistment office directly to the combat zone.
The phone numbers to which the correspondent was told to send documents were labeled in caller ID apps as “Olesya SVO” and “Central Military District enlistment office.”
Three Verstka sources connected to military recruitment efforts said the ads were a cover for recruiting contract soldiers. Two of the sources said recruiters disguise military service offers as civilian jobs because Avito strictly moderates such posts.
Media outlets have previously found hidden online offers for military service disguised as jobs for drivers of humanitarian cargo, guards at warehouses in Belarus, and vaguely defined “peacekeepers.” The new ads appeared amid a series of drone attacks on Wildberries logistics centers.
