Russia is ‘luring women to join troops as snipers’ in Ukraine

Yulia Sheremet and Natalya Nikonorovar, fighters in Borz Battalion (Picture: VK/Pravda.ru)

A military company in Russia is luring women for the first time to join male troops on the frontline in Ukraine, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

Recent adverts are targeting female recruits to sign up to the Borz (Greyhound in English) Battalion, part of PMC Redut, in a drive to urgently replenish its army.

Largely unknown abroad, the group is rumoured to be sponsored by the Kremlin, and created to fill the gap in the market left after a plane crash, in which Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his allies died.

In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said women are being rounded up to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators.

Nikonorovar shows off her combat skills (Picture: VK/Pravda.ru)

They have taken part in Russia’s invasion – but usually in conventionally ‘female’ positions, primarily as nurses and cooks.

In March, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that at least 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which would equate to only around 0.3% of its force.

As Redut’s advert points out, they currently serve in mostly medical support and food service roles.

‘It remains unclear whether official Russian defence forces will seek to follow suit and open more combat roles to women,’ the ministry said.

‘Women have rarely taken frontline fighting roles within pro-Russian forces during the current conflict. But there was a strong tradition of female snipers and other combat troops in Soviet forces during World War II.’

Earlier this year, three women appeared in a propaganda video shared by IStories on VKontakte showing their combat skills in Borz.

Karina Kambarova, Yulia Sheremet and Natalya Nikonorova were seen dressed in head-to-toe camouflage and huging automatic rifles.

Kambarova, who had the emblem of a skull on her bulletproof vest, even covered her face during an interview.

According to the report, the contract is for six months, the salary ranges, starting from 220,000 rubles or about £1,945.

For injuries, fighters reportedly receive between 1 and 3 million. After the contract expires, they get the status of a combat veteran assigned.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has introduced a series of laws to lure people to join military ranks. 

With the help of Wagner, authorities even tapped the jail system, freeing ruthless killers with years left to their sentence to be sent to fight in Ukraine.

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