St. Petersburg Hires Machine Gunners After Strings of Refinery Strikes

Military offices in St. Petersburg have published recruitment flyers for mobile air defense groups following a recent string of attacks against the city’s oil refineries.

According to independent Russian outlet Astra, the notices also promise a monthly payment of around 180,000 Russian rubles ($2,351) and no deployments to the Ukrainian front.

“A military recruitment advertisement, for example, from the Admiralteysky and Kirovsky district military recruitment offices, states: ‘This vacancy does NOT involve service in the Special Military Operations Zone! Service takes place in specialized units for the protection and defense of critical infrastructure facilities within St. Petersburg (no travel outside the region),’” Astra reported.

The flyers shared by Astra and other Russian media also outline other contract terms, including a three-year duration and eligibility for those aged 18 to 52 who pass medical examinations and meet other military enlistment requirements.

Mobile defense groups typically operate machine guns and interceptor drones to down incoming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS).

In Ukraine, alongside mobile defense groups under military command, a number of “private” defense groups have also been established to protect critical enterprises using military-provided equipment.

Recent St. Petersburg strikes

St. Petersburg, also home to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been subjected to rare Ukrainian strikes in recent months, including during June’s flagship economic event, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), when a refinery and naval facilities were struck before the event’s opening.

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The city’s port oil infrastructure and a military facility in nearby Kronstadt were struck again on July 4.

The latest offer, with a salary largely in line with that of frontline Russian troops without frontline deployment, is likely to be enticing for locals considering the reported 10-day to three-week survival rate.

However, Russian contract soldiers and conscripts – and especially foreign recruits – have reported a different reality.

In August 2024, during Kyiv’s Kursk offensive, Russian conscripts were sent to the front line for combat duties, according to accounts from two of the conscripts’ mothers.

Some Russian prisoners of war previously confirmed to Kyiv Post that, once in a unit, a Russian service member often faces heavy pressure from his chain of command to sign up as a contract soldier, making him eligible for deployment to Ukraine.

Foreign fighters captured by Ukraine also claim they were sent to the front after initially signing up for rear-area duties.

“The position [the recruiter] gave me was a therapist at the hospital, promising me I wouldn’t be participating in any fighting,” one Chinese soldier said at a press conference in April 2025 after his capture.

In June 2025, two of the captured fighters from Cameroon in Africa said they were hired in Russia to “make shampoo” and “fix teeth” before being sent to the Ukrainian front.