The russian opposition publication iStories has revealed that large russian private companies, including Oleg Deripaska's ones, are involved in the hiring of contractors to the war zone against Ukraine.
The publication's investigation shows how russian billionaires supply mercenaries to the russian army. The newspaper claims that a number of companies owned by russian businessmen pay the salaries of volunteers who go to war. It turns out to be something like a bonus to the money that contract soldiers receive from the state.
The publication found out that the Sokol volunteer battalion offers russians willing to fight 100 thousand rubles a month in addition to government payments. The phone numbers that this organization lists in its Telegram turned out to belong to Rusal Management JSC, a 100% subsidiary of Rusal, which is co-owned by Deripaska.
The journalist even managed to contact a recruiter who confirmed the scheme. The scheme is as follows: volunteers sign a contract with the russian Defense Ministry the day after signing a contract with the company, the latter is terminated, and the company "has a reason to pay bonuses to its employee who went to the SMO."
Deripaska remains under sanctions, but the company itself was released from them in 2019, after the billionaire relinquished control.
Rusal claims it has nothing to do with the activities of volunteer structures and knows nothing about the use of its phone numbers by third-party organizations.
The Novatek of Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, which is under relatively mild Western sanctions and continues to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU (through the Saturn-1 private company), operates in a similar fashion, the newspaper claims.
russia's largest developer, Sergei Gordeyev's PIK, according to the newspaper, is looking for mercenaries through ads on behalf of group companies, and Mikhail Gutseriev's Mospromstroy is looking for mercenaries directly on its own behalf. In the latter cases, the companies are probably trying to fulfill the moscow authorities' order to recruit employees.