Kremlin Comments on NATO Drills in Germany Involving Russian-Speaking Extras

The Kremlin is not tracking upcoming NATO drills in Germany, which is recruiting Russian-speaking extras, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, expressing confidence that the relevant special services are doing that job.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday, the German company Optronic HR confirmed recruiting Russian speakers for upcoming NATO drills involving US troops. A US army representative then told Sputnik the war games were not rehearsals for specific combat scenarios but were designed to train troops to deal with civilians from different countries while executing various assignments.

"There is no tracking in the Kremlin. We have special services, we have intelligence, we have military intelligence. I am convinced they have all the possible information," Peskov told reporters.

The job ads offered Russian speaking extras a daily 88-120 euros ($94-$129) for pretending to be farmers, shop owners and other improvised local residents in fictitious villages that were set up at the Hohenfels training grounds for upcoming NATO drills due to take place on April 28-May 15.

The relevant job ad is still up on the Optronic HR website us-statisten.de and states that the extras will represent the local population of a crisis-hit region in order for NATO troops to prepare for missions abroad. The extras are expected to have a basic knowledge of English, German, Polish or Czech aside from Russian. They will wear infrared detectors to determine if they would have been hit by soldiers on battlefield.