Wagner mercenaries appeal for video gamers to fly drone

The Kremlin-backed group wants people aged 21 to 35 with experience of flight simulation games to fight in Ukraine.

An advert on social media said the Wagner Group was looking to recruit people with experience of flight simulation computer games. Picture: Getty Images

The Wagner group is seeking video game players to operate drones in Ukraine, with preference given to those who “sit for hours” at their computers.

An advertisement on VKontakte, Russia’s biggest social media website, said the Kremlin-backed mercenaries were looking to employ people aged 21-35 with experience of flight simulation computer games who were in good physical shape. Combat ­experience is not necessary.

“You realise that this isn’t a game? You’d be at war,” a recruiter said to one caller inquiring about work. He also asked if they had a criminal record and had served in the military.

Wagner says successful applicants will be sent to either Ukraine or Africa, where the para­military group has deployed thousands of fighters to defend the Kremlin’s interests in recent years. Monthly salaries start at 240,000 roubles ($6185), four times the national average wage.

Comments under the post ranged from enthusiastic to sceptical. “I’ve got 20 years of experience on Call of Duty. Will you take me?” wrote Ruslan, referring to a popular video game. Pyotr, another VKontakte user, said that while he had 7000 hours of experience on computer flight simulators, at 42 he was too old to sign up as a combat drone operator. Wagner replied that he could apply instead to fly a quadcopter as a member of a close-combat unit. “I read that (Ukrainian soldiers) can locate drone operators really quickly,” read one comment. Another accused Wagner of “sending people to be slaughtered”.

The Russian defence ministry tried to attract video gamers in 2020, challenging them to join the army and “play according to real rules, without cheats and saves”.

Wagner is also advertising for French-speakers to work as interpreters in Africa, as well as welders, medics and drivers.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group’s leader, is continuing his feud with defence officials and has insisted he will defy an order for Wagner to sign a contract with the defence ministry that would probably reduce its freedom to operate independently in Ukraine. The tycoon, who has links with President Vladimir Putin, said this week that he had drafted his own version of a contract and sent it to the ministry. He did not reveal its contents.

The British Ministry of Defence described it as “another deliberate effort to undermine the authority of the official (Russian) military authorities” and “unambiguously confrontational”.

Last month Mr Prigozhin denounced Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, as “scumbags” over what he said was a failure to provide his fighters with enough ammunition. His mercenaries have ­recently captured and tortured at least one Russian soldier in Ukraine.

The Times