“Bring a friend,” or how Russians make money by sending each other to war

Both “authorities in the area” and women on maternity leave are persuading us to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense

Recruitment for the war with Ukraine has grown into a multi-level system, of which a variety of Russians become part. “Layout” tells how and how much mothers on maternity leave, “authorities in the area,” career military personnel and former HR people earn, convincing men to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense and go to the front.

Some characters' names have been changed for their safety.

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“I would like to sign a delivery certificate”

In the fall of 2024, at the checkout of one of the grocery stores in Lipetsk , two people were standing for water and cigarettes. Konstantin, a strong, gray-haired man, a high-ranking official from the region, paid the price.

“What a price,” said the second, Arthur, in unkempt clothes and smelling of alcohol, looking at a bottle of water for 80 rubles.

Together they got into a black SUV and drove to the factory district of the city with five-story Brezhnev buildings.

“There is a chance to change your life,” Konstantin reasoned while he was taxiing. - What do you have now? You are alone, without work, a beggar.

Arthur didn't argue. In recent months, he had been drinking and “shooting money” from friends, and even from Konstantin, whom he met only in the morning, he managed to borrow a “five-room apartment.”

The men went into one of the brick buildings in the area - there they were received “like dear guests”, out of turn. None of the visitors to the Lipetsk military registration and enlistment office that day were interested in military service, and Konstantin and Arthur came just for this.

“I was afraid that they wouldn’t let us in: the guy was really substandard, of a marginal type.” But the employee said, “How great,” they say, let’s give it here,” recalls Konstantin. “My boyfriend began to say: “Well, I haven’t decided yet.” And she told him: “How come they didn’t decide? Who will protect us? She showed such a gift of eloquence that anyone would sign it.

While the unemployed man was being told about payments and his “sacred duty,” the official went into the office of the deputy military commissar.

“I would like to sign a delivery certificate,” he asked and immediately received the paper. For “delivering” the candidate, Konstantin was entitled to a reward of 50 thousand rubles, if the recruit passed the medical examination and actually went to fight.

The official went about his business in the hope that his candidate “wouldn’t jump off” and ventilated the car after him.

“No one promised him that everything would be fine”

Over the three years of war, the recruitment of Russians to the front has turned into a living market, where behind one signed contract there can be a customer and a contractor. Thousands of men, leaving to fight, cover the KPIs of regional and city departments and enterprises - and often do not think about it.

Scrolling through posts in telegram channels or discussing with neighbors an increase in payments at SVO , a man may not know that “recruiters” are right now competing for him as a client. These could be former HR managers who began to cooperate with military registration and enlistment offices through intermediaries. There may be mothers on maternity leave who have learned how to create colorful advertisements and post them on social networks. Or simply people with a wide circle of acquaintances and a talent for persuasion.

The one who is more persistent and brings the candidate to the front will receive a percentage of “sales” - from 5 to 350 thousand rubles, depending on the status of the customer.

This is how Arthur got into the car of a Lipetsk official, in which he was taken straight to the military registration and enlistment office. The day before, local departments were given a plan to recruit for the war, and Konstantin, who also received his KPI (four recruits per month), turned to the recruiter. He was provided with recruitment services by an “authority in the area.”

“He found a suitable guy for me, Arthur, and I decided to go through this entire chain with my legs, so that later I could launch the scheme widely,” recalls Konstantin. - There is no deception here. The guy could have died from booze or drugs. I explained to him: “Listen, you will get money. You will return as a respected person if you return.” No one promised him that there were no risks and that everything would be fine.

The candidate did not come to the medical examination and “slipped off.” Later, according to the official, another “recruiter” talked to Arthur, but he did not bring him to the front: it turned out that the candidate was registered in a mental hospital and could not serve.

“They told me that he could be deregistered,” says the official. “But I didn’t see his motivation.” Is it worth bothering with in this case? From the very beginning, I was embarrassed that he asked the same question to both me and the military registration and enlistment office employees: “Can I sign the contract later, but now take at least five thousand rubles?”

“Solvers” and coffee with a bun

Military registration and enlistment office employees say they see recruiters every day and recognize them by type.

Yaroslav, an employee of the Moscow City Hall who works at the Unified Selection Point for Service , sends a photo of a young woman in a burgundy suit and a matching leather bag talking on the phone against the backdrop of the “Fluorography” sign.

“They are mostly women, “fussmakers,” describes Yaroslav. “They’re standing there, looking out for someone, leading them by the hand.” They also look inappropriately bright, like whores - it’s immediately clear that these are definitely not our employees. If in Crocs, pants, with a belly and cookies, then ours. And if she’s wearing tight minis with bright lipstick, then who the fuck is. We perceive them as such spiders, their task is to catch someone. And the web is laid out at different stages: they start catching someone in another city, they buy tickets for someone, they find someone at enterprises.

“These are the guys who are “in the vanity,” the troublemakers, the fixers,” says military man Dmitry, who prepares recruits for service in one of the Far Eastern regions. “They communicate with everyone: with the middle class, with the marginalized, with drug addicts, with those with whom they themselves once served [sentence]. They have their own corefan in each car service.

Dmitry says that he already knows some recruiters by sight and is familiar with their stories. For example, a representative of the local government, a frequent visitor to the military registration and enlistment office, helps close the plan to both his superiors and other budgetary institutions of the city. Another - an ex-Wagnerite who returned from the front - is now recruiting for the war “in between times”, for the sake of additional income.

The customer is willing to pay for a candidate who is guaranteed to be included in his personal plan.

— Let’s say a man was thinking of signing a contract in the usual way, but his curator caught him and took him through the cops. He has a credit card, and they came up with the idea that he was allegedly in debt, that he was being persecuted by the FSSP. The security forces get a stick, but people will go to the front as a debtor ,” explains Yaroslav.

- They will take you through all the commissions - just to enroll you in the plan of a specific organization. Moreover, this could be a city power grid or a water utility, or maybe a kindergarten,” says Dmitry.

He notices that the recruits themselves - often men with loans or debts - are not interested in the recruiters’ benefits and see “the kindness of their soul” in everything.

— While they’re sitting in line, the recruiter brings them coffee and a bun. And they never heard kind words addressed to them. Yes, that's it, damn it. It's very scary to watch. One case was completely “beyond the bounds” - recruiters brought a man with hepatitis to the military registration and enlistment office five times. I look at his passport and say: “You’re no good!” And the recruiter told me: “He came for the first time!” They thought we didn’t remember people, and tried to pass him off straight away. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up going through another region.

Intermediaries offer recruitment in different regions, in which both the amount of payments and additional conditions differ. A showcase of current salaries and benefits throughout Russia is telegram channels, where advertising posters with curators’ phone numbers appear every hour.

They create the feeling that even in war, risks can be reduced if you enlist the support of reliable people. For example, Olga promises to arrange courses for UAV operators in Yaroslavl. Andrey is appointed to the rear, as a driver. Georgiy guarantees a vacation every six months.

All of them are ready to pay for a plane or train ticket, arrange three meals a day and accommodation during the medical examination. But almost none of them will see their recruits in person.

This is how another category of recruiters works—remote workers who recruit for war online.

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"Individual support and security"

“I don’t know what happens to them then.” My task is for them to come and sign the contract. But we don’t communicate anymore, there is no connection there.

“Verstka” corresponds with a recruiter named Victoria. The profile picture shows a blonde with long eyelashes and a deep neckline. In Telegram channels, she advertises “a worthy choice of a patriot” and illustrates her posts with a picture of a soldier in a helmet and vest.

Vika promises that with her help it will be possible to go to the front without a military ID and while being registered with a narcologist, with hepatitis and HIV , with a criminal record.

The candidate’s older children will go to university on a budget, and the younger ones will have a free vacation at a summer camp. The family will have debts of up to 10 million rubles written off and given 10 acres of land. The court case, if any, will be stayed. This is only a small part of the promised benefits.

Dozens of men call and write to Victoria’s number. But they don’t know what city he is in and what the person with the fake photo of the young blonde actually looks like.

- Do you take women? — “Layout” responds to advertising.
- No.
— If one of the men I know decides to sign a contract, can I give you your number?
- I would be grateful. I’ll transfer you 10 thousand rubles for each candidate,” Vika suddenly promises and reassures: no one else is sent to the “red zone” because “the war is ending.”

“Layout” asks Victoria about the specifics of her work. She lists the advantages: income from 300 thousand rubles per month, free schedule, opportunity to combine. She came to this field recently, out of friendship: in January 2025, an acquaintance invited her to an agency that entered into agreements “with various military registration and enlistment offices” and hired “managers.”

Before this, Victoria was involved in personnel selection for several years. Now, while recruiting for the war, she believes that she remains in the profession - the process “is not at all difficult.”

Victoria and her colleagues - other agency managers - publish advertisements for the contract service in Telegram channels and VK public pages, and then answer calls. Every day they compete for the attention of recruits with dozens of similar agencies.

“Victory is close, hurry up to get all the benefits and payments,” Ivan.
“We have individual support and security!”, Arina.
“Calls are accepted from 9.00 to 00.00. You can write around the clock,” Oleg.

In one of the largest telegram groups advertising contract services, recruiters placed 7,945 such advertisements over nine months.

- You see, men come to the military registration and enlistment office, and they are told right on the spot: “Well, Pupkin, forget it - you were sold for such and such an amount and now you are with us.” That is, candidates understand on the spot that we are supposedly getting money for them,” says recruiter Elizaveta.
- But that’s what you get, right?
- Well, of course, it’s like in any selection - both for an IT specialist and for a shift worker after five shifts worked. Everything is the same here.

Recruiter Victoria says that she is used to a “heavy contingent” and “overwhelmed” men. But, despite this, she is happy with everything and only regrets the lost time.

“If I had known about this topic earlier, I would have been making money here a long time ago.” Ten times more than at her main job - the girl records a voice message on the go and offers to discuss the details later, because she is flying to Turkey for two weeks.

“Amount of the Contractor’s remuneration for each Candidate”

Recruiting managers usually do not disclose the names of their companies and customers. They do not name the amount of earnings, indicating only a wide range of fees.

“From 100 to 150 thousand for one candidate, depends on the military registration and enlistment office,” says Victoria.

“From 50 to 300 thousand per person,” says her competitor Elizaveta.

On the government procurement website, “Verstka” found four tenders from companies that are supposed to supply volunteers for the war and are looking for help. Three applications belong to City Electric Networks of Khanty-Mansiysk.

The company is ready to spend a total of 15.5 million rubles on the service of “searching and selecting candidates to attract contracts.” The procurement documents name two exact “amounts of the Contractor’s remuneration for each Candidate” - 150 thousand and 190 thousand rubles. The company's budget is enough to bring 90 men to the military registration and enlistment office.

“Verstka” also drew attention to the fact that tenders for the recruitment of the city power grid were announced immediately after the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug raised the one-time military payment to a national record 3,200,000 rubles.

Another tender for “candidate selection services” was announced by the Aleksandrovsky city trading market in the Vladimir region. On May 28, he entered into an agreement with the Voevoda military-patriotic training center for a month. Reward - 300,000 rubles.

“Services are considered to be provided by the Contractor properly in the event of the Candidate’s arrival at the place of military service,” the contract specifies.

From the financial statements of the VPTC “Voevoda” it follows that their earnings began to grow sharply in 2024 - at the same time they began to post vacancies for contract service from the Rostov region, Krasnodar Territory, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. From a loss of 604 thousand rubles at the end of 2023, Voevoda managed to achieve a profit of more than 46 million.

— Don’t you need personnel? — “Vorstka” is interested in recruiter Victoria from the recruiting agency.
“You know, there’s competition here, every man for himself,” she replies. — You teach yourself, you look for telegram channels where you can post. You also need to be able to persuade, talk it out, so that they come to you and not to someone else. No one will teach you, something like that.

To start making money from recruiting, most often you need to register an individual entrepreneur, understand the advertising market and prepare for personal investments. The price tag for advertising in large telegram channel networks reaches tens of thousands.

For 45 thousand rubles, for example, administrators will publish a recruiter’s advertisement in hundreds of urban communities that masquerade as groups with civilian vacancies, but are campaigning for participation in the “SVO” - “Work in St. Petersburg” or “Voronezh region, work.” In each of them, the post will appear 30 times, but it is difficult to assess the effectiveness.

“This month I spent more than 100 thousand on advertising, but there was no response at all. My posts quickly go to the top because of thousands of the same ads. It's a lottery, depending on your luck. But I hope this is a lull because of the May ones,” complains Victoria.

While recruiters are struggling with competition, regions give volunteer recruiters the opportunity to earn money and offer them the same fees. Without advertising and registration of an individual entrepreneur, you can get from 100 to 200 thousand rubles if you bring not strangers to the military registration and enlistment office, but your loved ones.

“When he leaves, you will receive the spine.”

“You don’t have to come with him.” He will simply say: “My sister brought me.” Or who is there? Wife? And he will write a statement.

An employee of the Yaroslavl military registration and enlistment office answers the call at the end of the working day and talks about the conditions of the local program, which is ironically compared to “bring a friend” referral promotions. The region first promised 30, and then 100 thousand rubles to any person who “ attracts a volunteer to the military registration and enlistment office.”

— And it’s not even necessary to accompany the candidate? — “Vorstka” clarifies.
- Well, yes. He himself will indicate you in the application, in his own hand. The application is first approved by our selection point, then we submit it to the administration, and they also approve it there. Then they will call you, you will come to the administration, and you will also need to sign an application there. And that’s it, the payment will come within a week.
— Will I need to somehow confirm that it was I who brought the candidate?
- You don’t need anything. The main thing is that they take him to a military unit. It's better to get tested in advance. Syphilis, hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis. But all this is free.

At the military registration and enlistment office of another city - Ulyanovsk, where referral payments were included in a social program called “Care” - they set more stringent conditions. It will not be possible to “bring” a candidate without accompanying him personally, but the payment here is also greater: 150 thousand rubles.

“You just need to control it,” says the employee. - Go through the medical examination with him, and stay next to him until he is sent. And when he leaves, they will give you a receipt, go to the administration, give it to you and that’s it.
- Does it matter who he is to me?
- It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter at all. The payment arrives within two weeks at most.
— So you just need to come, wait for the medical examination and that’s it?
- That's all. In principle, businesslike.

In February 2025, the Ulyanovsk region allocated seven million rubles for the “Care” program, but already in April another 19 million were added to the budget. And in May, former Deputy Minister of Property Relations and Architecture Alexander Taushkin was detained in the region - according to investigators, together with a subordinate he submitted a fictitious list of 12 recruits to the Ministry of Social Development and received 1.8 million rubles for this.

Only a few regions officially announced referral promotions, including Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. The non-public program operates in “many places,” according to military registration and enlistment office employees, and Russians receive payments for their relatives “often.”

But some bring their brothers or husbands not to military registration and enlistment offices, but to recruiters whom they find through advertisements - and do not expect any reward.

“So they write: “Please send him - here he will die from alcohol, but there at least he will die with pride,” recruiter Elizaveta tells Vorstka. She has been sending men to the front for more than a year, but claims that she does it “honestly” and even dissuades those from war who, in her opinion, are not ready for it.

“I don’t want to pretend to be a saint”

Lisa builds a recruiter’s personal brand using a human approach. She says that she does not cut off contact with recruits, unlike her colleagues, communicates with their families, sends soldiers money for cigarettes and is even ready to deliver them phones or tablets without demanding repayment. And for those who romanticize the war, he shows a video of the evacuation of bodies - “with corpses, with pierced heads.”

— On the Internet they say: “Ah! Do you want to be a driver ? Come, come, transport generals and colonels.” And then they hopped on, changed his clothes, took away his phone and sent him to the assault. Today I dissuaded one young man. He says: “Is it true that Yaroslavl trains UAV operators?” True, I say, but this is not a 100% guarantee. How is this possible? I explain that they can buy him on the way, if there is such a need, and transfer him to the assault. I don’t want to pretend to be a saint, but I’m not ready to live with it, then it’s already dirty money,” says Elizabeth, but clarifies that “three out of five people” still go to the front through her.

She publishes screenshots of her correspondence with her wards on social networks - she shows how she asks them to write every week, asks whether they have received payments, and makes them promise to return.

“Give me your word: finish the contract and meet in Moscow. How do you like this offer?” she asks the recruit.

The soldier gives Lisa his word that he will meet her if he “lives to see his leave.” He probably doesn’t know that she hasn’t lived in Russia for several years.

Simultaneously with posts in telegram channels of recruiters, messages from Lisa also appear in expat chats in Istanbul. She is looking for a rented apartment with two restrooms, a breakfast cafe with a beautiful view, contacts for a Russian-speaking speech therapist and clubs for a child who is two years and four months old.

During a telephone conversation, Lisa is constantly interrupted by the voice of her son, who does not yet go to kindergarten. She says she sympathizes with women who are left at home alone when their husbands go off to fight.

“Verstka” asks if she regrets anything during her year of work, and Lisa immediately answers: “Yes, yes, at least three times.”

— The first is a citizen of a country other than ours. I concluded my sentence, went to the training ground, and still got scared. He started writing to me: “Elizabeth, please, can you somehow help me terminate the contract? Mom has a heart attack, we need to fly to Uzbekistan.” But I understand that I can’t influence it in any way. The second case is a really very young boy. I offered him shift work instead of service, but I couldn’t persuade him. Three weeks later he writes: “I’m scared.” And for a year now he has not logged into WhatsApp or Telegram.

The last ward that Lisa remembers is a father with many children, who left for the war in secret from his family. In the morning he went to work and stopped answering the phone, and his wife noticed that there were not enough slippers and towels in the bathroom.

“His wife and his mother, who had just undergone heart surgery, started calling me. They say: “Liza, what are you doing there? Why did you send him there? I began to persuade him to return home, he answered me: “Block my entire family.” A month later, news came that he was missing. And the children were waiting for dad for the New Year.

The woman says that these incidents made her doubt, and she often thinks about “life’s boomerang.”

“When another [soldier] became missing, I stopped advertising. For now, I’m definitely taking a break,” Lisa tells Vorstka.

A week later, her contacts again appear in one of the largest telegram channels about contract service.

“Thank you, our heroes!” - she writes in the post and promises an income of more than six million a year.

Since September last year, Lisa has advertised her services 160 times.

Cover: Dmitry Osinnikov

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