“A Hero Without Limits”

Russians with HIV and hepatitis are being specifically recruited to fight in the war against Ukraine — such vacancies have started appearing on Avito marketplace. Recruiters confirmed to IStories that the Russian armed forces are openly enlisting volunteers with these illnesses.

On Avito, in addition to standard offers for service in the Russian Armed Forces, there are now at least 30 job postings for Russians with health restrictions, including HIV and viral hepatitis. For example, the presence of HIV among future contract soldiers is stated directly in the headlines of the ads: “Fighter with immunodeficiency for the special military operation,” “Serving on the special military operation with HIV infection,” “Fighter with HIV for the special military operation.” Additionally, ads seeking fighters “with health nuances” are recruiting volunteers with hepatitis and other serious diseases. Among the open positions are not only guards or drivers, but also UAV operators and artillerymen.

Currently, the official recruitment of HIV-positive individuals under contract with the Ministry of Defense is only taking place in Nizhny Novgorod, four recruiters told IStories. According to one of them, a separate battalion for volunteers with this illness was opened recently. Another IStories source explained that HIV-positive Russians are being formed into a separate unit “so they won’t be afraid to bandage and evacuate each other.”

When departing from Nizhny Novgorod, contract soldiers with HIV receive the region’s standard social benefits package: 1.5 million rubles in signing bonuses and a certificate for a land plot. Recruiters also promise candidates full training with experienced instructors at the training base in Mulino. In theory, it is possible to pass selection with HIV in other cities as well, but for that you have to “slip something in” [give a bribe — Ed.], one recruiter told IStories. Moreover, the approach to candidates with illnesses there will be completely different: “Most likely, there won’t even be any training. They’ll just send you off, and [they] don’t care at all, they won’t pay any attention to preparation.”

As noted by the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), it was possible even before to find a selection point where serious illnesses would be overlooked. The reason for this may be an unfulfilled contract recruitment quota. Such volunteers also end up in the ranks of the army with forged health certificates. And the purpose of the ads on Avito is to attract people who are convinced that formal restrictions won’t allow them to pass selection.

Along with the recruitment of HIV-positive individuals in Nizhny Novgorod, there is also a campaign underway to find volunteers with viral hepatitis (A, B, and C). Three IStories sources confirmed that such recruitment is currently open in Ufa. One recruiter also shared that people with hepatitis are being accepted under contract in Vologda, Cheboksary, and Voronezh.

Previously, there was no known targeted recruitment of Russians with HIV and hepatitis into regular Russian army units. Recently, Russian propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova reported, that separate units would be formed from servicemen with these diseases to carry out combat tasks in defense. However, this is not about recruiting new people, but about those who signed contracts with “fake health certificates” or became infected while already in the army.

According to the current order of the Ministry of Defense, Russians with hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV, cannot sign contracts with the Russian Armed Forces. However, in practice, this requirement stopped being enforced for volunteer formations as early as the first year of the war — first in the Wagner PMC, where new recruits ended up in a “suicide squad” called Umbrella, and later in the pseudo-PMC Redut, controlled by the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Ministry of Defense, as discovered by IStories in December 2023. As journalists from Current Time confirmed, recruiters at Redut still accept Russians with HIV and viral hepatitis. Under this scheme, volunteers can sign a contract for six months and even terminate it early. However, they will not be able to obtain the status of Russian Armed Forces servicemen with the corresponding benefits.

In August, Kashevarova drew attention to the epidemic of HIV and hepatitis C in the Russian army. According to her, soldiers do not receive treatment for hepatitis, and after the disease is detected, they remain at the front. HIV-positive servicemen also do not receive antiretroviral therapy.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Russian army registered 20 times more cases of HIV compared to prewar figures, reported Verstka, citing a publication in the Military Medical Journal. At that time, the authors of the study linked the spread of HIV to the recruitment of contract soldiers who were not screened for the virus.