Investigation Reveals Private Recruitment Network for Russian Military

An investigation by iStories revealed the inner workings of Voevoda, a private company that recruits contract soldiers for the Russian army. The company, founded in 2014 by Vidadi Bayramov, shifted its focus to recruitment in 2024 and saw its revenue grow nearly tenfold in a year to over 700 million rubles. The recruitment process operates similarly to multi level marketing, where recruiters earn commissions based on the residency of the recruit. Payments range from 150,000 rubles for a resident of Yaroslavl to 1 million rubles for a resident of Moscow. Additional bonuses are provided for recruiting more than five soldiers or for bringing in new recruiters.

Voevoda utilizes targeted social media advertisements, particularly on Telegram, and employs call centers to source candidates. Marketing agencies sell phone numbers of potential recruits to the company. Raw numbers are sold for 10 to 20 rubles, while qualified leads can cost between 1,300 and 1,400 rubles. Recruiters are trained to build psychological rapport and handle objections from candidates. Internal instructions indicate that the company accepts individuals with criminal records, provided they were not convicted of terrorism or extremism, and even those missing limbs.

The company also recruits foreign nationals for a fee of 300,000 rubles per person. Foreign recruits are advised to keep their military contracts secret. Voevoda coordinates these lists with the Federal Security Service (FSB) before they are passed to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Regarding the founder, Vidadi Bayramov, the Ukrainian project Myrotvorets lists him as a former Wagner Group fighter involved in conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine, although this has not been independently confirmed.