The United Kingdom Intelligence services explained this Monday that a Russian private military company “is trying to specifically recruit women for combat roles” in Ukraine. This would be the “first time” that something like this has happened since the start of the invasion, in February 2022.

To report on this they rely on “recent advertisements on social networks that have requested female recruits for the Borz Battalion, part of the private military company Redut.” Those selected will occupy positions of “snipers and operators of unmanned devices.”

According to British Intelligence, “Redut is probably directly supported by the Russian Intelligence Bureau.” They also recall that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in March that some 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which “represents only about 0.3% of the forces“.

“As Redut’s own advertisement points out, (women) mainly occupy positions in medical support and food services,” they noted, before emphasizing that “It is unclear whether official Russian forces will follow suit. and they will open more combat positions to women.

In this sense, they have asserted that “it is not common for women to assume combat positions on the front lines of the pro-Russian forces during the conflict, although there is a strong tradition of snipers and other combat troops among the Soviet forces during the Second World War”.