When Georgy Kochkin saw the job advertisement, he was psyched.
It was October 2025, he was in debt, and he was working a low-paying job at a Moscow factory.
The advertised job was with a military unit called the Africa Corps. It wasn't combat; it was a civilian position. It promised good pay: 2 million rubles ($25,000) just for signing up. He applied and showed up at a Moscow recruiting station.
"I brought you some meat," the recruiter announced to his supervisor as Kochkin sat for his initial interview on October 11, 2025.
Thus began a three-month misadventure that ended when Kochkin, 21, went AWOL, fled the country, and flew to the Philippines.
Speaking with RFE/RL's Russian Service from Manila, he described his journey and provided a small window into the frequently shambolic process by which Russian officials have tried to maintain personnel levels and keep Moscow's full-scale war on Ukraine going.
RFE/RL could not verify all aspects of Kochkin's story, though it was able to confirm some details of the unit to which he was assigned.
Help Wanted: Africa Corps
Kochkin has a diploma in information security from a Moscow vocational school and had served a year in a technical unit with the National Guard when he took a job at a Moscow factory that assembled self-service kiosks, the kinds used as bank machines. But he was paying off a car loan, so he needed new work.
Signing up to fight in Ukraine like hundreds of thousands of other Russian men have done, was one option. Wages and benefits continue to be extraordinary; depending on the region, it could equal an entire year's salary just for volunteering.
But Kochkin knew about the life expectancy for Russian volunteers in Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have died in the war, now in its fifth year.
The job with the Africa Corps caught his eye.
The unit, which is under the aegis of Russia's main intelligence agency, known as the GRU, was seeking IT specialists, information security experts, and others. He was told he could be a drone operator, but Kochkin insisted on doing something in information security.
SEE ALSO: With Wagner In Disarray, Russian Diplomat With Spy Links Surfaces In Central African RepublicThe Africa Corps was built by the GRU from the remnants of the Wagner Group, the mercenary company that was dismantled in the wake of the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in August 2023. The unit has been deployed to several African countries, with mixed results.
The contract Kochkin signed on October 13 said nothing about Africa, or about IT, or anything of the sort. But the money was good.
In addition to the 2 million rubles for signing up, he was paid a 200,000-ruble bonus from the Defense Ministry and promised another 200,000 rubles upon departing for Africa. Additionally, the loan payments on his car would be suspended while he was serving.
He enlisted as a private, and like other volunteers was sent to a training base in Mulino, in the central region of Nizhny Novgorod.
SEE ALSO: Wagner's Successors Wage Campaign Of Terror In Central African Republic'Only A Few Were Sent To Africa'
At first, Kochkin said, there was a lot of sitting around and not much military training. Three weeks after arriving, he was issued a helmet, a tactical vest, and a standard-issue Russia military camouflage uniform. It was clothing suited for cold weather, not Africa, he said.
"There were a lot of us in the camp," he told RFE/RL. "Only a few were sent to Africa; most went to Ukraine. Meanwhile, many of my comrades who signed the contract at the same time as I did are still sitting around at the base."
There was some emergency first aid and practical battlefield lessons, he said, like what to do if you find yourself in a mine field. On a couple occasions, there were introductory lectures on various African countries.
There was also the expectation of bribery. To avoid onerous tasks or duties, soldiers would pay off superior officers, a practice that is commonplace throughout the Russian armed forces.
He said there was no advance notice about where he would be deployed: assignments were announced at morning roll call.
SEE ALSO: On Ukraine's Battlefield, Russia Has Lost Ground, Experts Say. But Don't Expect A Major Reversal For Kyiv."They'd read you your name and say: 'Get ready, the plane's leaving in however many days, get your weapons, get your things ready,'" he said. "If they didn't say where, then it meant Ukraine, as we later learned from those who'd left. If they said, 'to Africa,' it meant Africa."
Before the new year, he learned that his superior commander was being sent to Africa. But rumors circulated that Kochkin, and many others, were destined for Ukraine. He said three other volunteers deserted upon learning they were heading to Ukraine.
He tried to desert on New Year's Eve by driving his own car, which he'd been allowed to keep. But his attempt was thwarted when he had a run-in on the road with a GRU agent and had to return to base.
"On Friday, January 23, I was told I'd be deployed in two or three days, and for now, they said, go home. That's when I became despondent, because Ukraine wasn't even in my plans," Kochkin said.
The following day, he left the base, and headed west to Smolensk, a city near the border with Belarus, about a 10-hour drive. He caught a train to Minsk, half expecting his name to appear in a police wanted database, and bought a plane ticket to the Philippines, flying by way of China.
He has applied to Manila for asylum.
On January 26, he started receiving messages from his unit's deputy commander and other soldiers asking where he was. He said officials even offered to transfer him to another unit. It's unclear whether criminal charges were filed against him for desertion.
"My parents, of course, were floored when they learned I'd taken such a radical step," he said. "They're still worried about where I am, how I'll get by, and so on."
About 10 days later, he said he learned some of his unit had been sent to Ukraine, to work as sappers.