Russian state enterprises with seemingly little affiliation to the military are recruiting “mobilization and wartime experts,” the independent Sota news outlet has reported.
The report comes as top Russian officials continue to deny speculation that the Kremlin plans to announce a full mobilization as soon as May 9, when Russia celebrates the Victory Day holiday.
Vacancies seeking experts in “wartime mobilization readiness and training” began appearing on the popular jobs platform Headhunter over the past week, Sota reported Thursday.
The employers include a tax service in Moscow, a pharmaceutical chain in annexed Crimea, and hospitals in Belgorod near the Russia-Ukraine border and Novosibirsk in Siberia, as well as an airport in the Far East Kamchatka region.
Police stations emphasize in their ads that recruits will not be mobilized, according to Sota.
The ads were published in the middle of Russia’s biannual enlistment season for compulsory military service, which was accompanied by at least six reported attacks on recruitment offices in recent weeks.
British defense minister Ben Wallace said last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a military parade on Red Square, to mobilize troops for a renewed push in Ukraine.
CNN reported Monday, citing unnamed officials, that Putin could formally declare war to allow for the mobilization of reserve forces and draft conscripts under Russian law.
Russia refers to its invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation,” not a war, and has never declared a full mobilization in its recent history.
The Kremlin as well as the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament denied plans for a general mobilization on Thursday.