The Redut PMC, Controlled by the Defense Ministry, Has Begun Recruiting People with HIV for the War in Ukraine

The Redut PMC (subordinate to the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) of the Russian Defense Ministry) has begun recruiting HIV-positive mercenaries for the war in Ukraine. IStories found posts about this on social media.

“Starting today, we are accepting guys with HIV and hepatitis into the equivalent of the Umbrella unit,” a post on the Telegram channel of the Saint George brigade says. The contract is for six months, the salary is 230,000 rubles, and there is an opportunity to receive bonuses.

Umbrella is a unit that existed within the Wagner PMC. It included people with HIV and hepatitis.

A journalist from IStories called the number in the ad, posing as a man with HIV who wanted to go to war. The recruiter told him that the contract would be signed with the Redut PMC. He clarified that a volunteer with HIV would need to bring antiretroviral therapy medication with him: “We will only provide you with what you need to fight. In Donetsk, you will have to buy [the medicine], we do not bring it.”

HIV-positive and hepatitis-infected individuals cannot sign contracts with the Defense Ministry.

The first report that men with HIV were fighting in Ukraine as part of the Wagner PMC came in October 2022 from Ukrainian military intelligence. Later, this information was confirmed by New York Times journalists — they spoke with prisoners to whom the Wagner PMC had promised medication for HIV treatment.

After the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner PMC fighters began to join the ranks of the Russian National Guard. There, too, fighters with HIV and hepatitis are accepted for service, as IStories reported.