Russian-occupied Crimea has been plastered with recruitment notices for Russia’s security services, a sign of a staffing crisis, according to human rights advocates.
Active recruitment of Russian security personnel in Crimea is being carried out through ordinary public notices. Rights advocates say it points to an acute shortage of personnel in the FSB and the military, Krym.Realii reports.
A large-scale campaign to hire for Russia’s security structures has been rolled out across the Russian-occupied peninsula. A local human rights advocate says notices for service in military units and FSB border detachments are being posted en masse in parks, at public transport stops, and on apartment block bulletin boards in Simferopol.
Before Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, it would have been hard to imagine the FSB hiring this way, the advocate said. Now it’s a reality. Few Crimeans are morally willing to join the border service of what he called an “aggressor state,” he added, saying it shows significant pro‑Ukrainian sentiment remains on the peninsula.
After the occupation of Crimea, border guards were transferred there from neighboring Russian regions. But once the full-scale war began, manpower shortages emerged: thousands of Russian border guards were sent to fight in the Kursk region, many did not return, and understaffing in units spiked.
According to the advocate, even Russian military units operating on the Ukrainian front are now recruiting through ordinary ads. He said there is a severe shortfall in combat personnel, and statements by Russian authorities about large numbers of volunteers signing contracts with the Defense Ministry look like information manipulation.
