By Maria Tsvetkova and Gleb Stolyarov
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s dreaded riot police have launched an online recruitment ad flash in the weeks since nationwide protests erupted over the imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Police tens of thousands of people who participated in three demonstrations, across Russia spread that spanned January and early February, when Navalny returned from Germany to the country and was later sentenced to 2-1 / 2 years in prison.
Since then, riot police have advertised hundreds of times for jobs on recruitment sites such as HH.ru, run by Headhunter Group, Avito and Superjob.ru. A Reuters review of the data provided by some of the recruitment companies suggests that the ad blitz has gone much further than any similar action in recent years.
OMON units of the Russian National Guard, which works at protests across Russia, posted 1,607 times for jobs on Headhunter from January 24 to February 24, compared to only 151 job ads in the same period last year.
In the same month, Moscow’s main riot police unit, the Second Special Regiment, also posted Headhunter 608 times, compared to 11 during the previous year.
“No experience required,” reads a job description for Second-Regiment police snipers on Headhunter’s page, promising candidates a monthly salary of up to 70,000 rubles ($ 944.67).
The ad was first posted on the Headhunter website on February 21 and published a hundred times within four days, Headhunter’s press service told Reuters.
The Russian Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Russian National Guard’s press service said that the publication of job advertisements is ‘normal’, and that they do not analyze whether the number of advertisements is increasing or not.
“WE HAVE A BIG RECRUITMENT RIDE”
On Avito, the number of riot police posts posted between January 26 and February 25 was 3.7 times higher than the same period last year, and according to data the company shared with Reuters, the number of responses increased 5.1 times .
Two OMON officials reached by phone said the recruitment process was not related to protests, but that there was a need to replace people leaving the service for new opportunities. Eight officers from the Second Special Regiment confirmed that the campaign was larger than normal.
“We have a big recruiting campaign,” one told Reuters.
Another official said the intensive appointment was a result of a decision taken about two years ago to expand staff.
($ 1 = 74.1000 rubles)
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Peter Graff)