Volunteers sought in Murmansk to combat drones
Those interested are being promised the opportunity to combine military service with their main jobs, but the need to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defence is not mentioned.
An advert recruiting volunteers for BARS mobile fire groups appeared on the Telegram channel of the Murmansk Region operational headquarters. At the beginning of the post, its authors recall that Murmansk endured 792 air raids during the Second World War and draw a comparison with the consequences of Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine: “Today, the airspace of the Arctic region once again requires protection.”
To combat drones, volunteers are required to join BARS mobile fire groups. BARS stands for Combat Army Reserve of the Country, a reserve system created to enable the Armed Forces to be rapidly reinforced with trained personnel.
Applicants must sign a contract with the Ministry of Defence to serve in the reserve. This requirement, however, is not mentioned in the post, which instead directs those seeking further information to contact the military commissariat.
The advert published by the operational headquarters also provides no detailed explanation of the terms of the contract. It merely states that “reservists undergo military training and attend training camps, while being able to combine their service with their main employment”.
Information about recruitment into BARS mobile fire groups in the Murmansk Region was also published on 12 August on the official website of the Pechengsky Municipal District administration. According to the published information, candidates are being sought, among other purposes, to provide security for facilities belonging to Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company.
A notice published alongside the announcement states that the contract lasts for three years.
The comparison between the current war and what Russians call the Great Patriotic War, used at the beginning of the operational headquarters’ post, is a common device in Russian state propaganda. The memory of the Second World War is used to justify the current invasion, through the message that “we are once again defending ourselves against Nazism, just as our grandfathers did”. Researchers have explicitly described this as the merging of two wars into a single symbolic narrative.
For example, on 29 August, the village of Lovozero is due to open an Alley of Glory dedicated to participants in what Russia officially calls the “special military operation”. The memorial has been placed next to a mass grave and a monument to those killed during the Second World War. The project предусматривает the installation of memorial plaques bearing photographs and the names of local residents who have died.
As a result, two different wars and two generations of war dead will be commemorated within the same memorial space: Soviet servicemen killed between 1941 and 1945, and Russian servicemen killed during the current invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, the new memorial may provide a more precise indication of the number of people from the village who have been killed. The project предусматривает the inclusion of the names of fallen local residents on memorial plaques. The published description of the project states that 12 people from Lovozero have been killed.
