Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" hasn't given the Russian people much to be grateful for, but those with disabilities—or aging workers looking to build a nest egg for retirement—have an attractive new opportunity. Multiple Russian job portals are now searching for willing recruits to staff mobile air-defense teams specializing in "rear defense," which amounts to shooting down Ukrainian drones headed for targets on Russian soil, rather than heading to the front lines. Some of the positions, which are specifically marked as suitable for disabled applicants and men over 50, pay handsomely and are advertised with a scarcely believable slew of benefits.
One such ad, promoted in Moscow by recruitment agency Svoi Lyudi (Our People), offers a 3 million-ruble ($36,000) signing bonus, plus a monthly salary starting at 300,000 rubles ($3,580). That is a huge wedge of cash in a country where the average national monthly salary is less than $1,300. You also get a certificate for a quarter-acre plot of land, while other ads dangle debt relief, preferential mortgage rates and veteran benefits.
If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably because it is. The Moscow advertisements are one of many popping up on Russian recruitment sites. Similar offers have appeared in Volgograd, where Svoi Lyudi advertised salaries as high as 450,000 rubles, and in Yekaterinburg, where local outlet E1 discovered recruitment drives offering signing bonuses as high as 4 million rubles ($47,800).
Some recruiters said they would accept men up to 63 years old—just five years short of Russia’s male life expectancy. Applicants will receive employment under an official Defense Ministry contract, with a specified military unit and position. Applicants supposedly know exactly where they're going, can skip the usual training-center assignment process and will serve "without participation in combat operations." "The primary objective is to counter enemy UAVs within the Russian Federation," the job ad reads.
Scroll further, though, and the proposition sounds less reassuring. "Specifying a particular unit and position in the contract does not guarantee that you will serve there. Commanders may transfer you to another location for operational reasons without your consent." In other words, you could decides it needs you.
Recruitment agencies might be peddling these jobs, but Russia's military authorities ultimately determine where personnel serve. And getting out isn't anywhere near as easy as getting in—under Putin's September 2022 mobilization decree, military contracts are automatically extended until Russia formally ends its mobilization, even if the soldier signed up voluntarily years after the original call-up. Russia stopped conscripting reservists en masse in October 2022, but the decree's restrictions remain in force.
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