In addition to mercenaries from Central Asia, today residents of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burundi, Congo and other exotic countries are fighting in the Russian occupation forces (ROV) against Ukraine. The Kremlin stubbornly calls everyone a volunteer, but many facts indicate otherwise. The mercenaries captured by the Ukrainian Defenсe Forces complain that they are shocked by how the Russians deceived them.
How people are recruited and forced to serve in the ROV – in the OBOZ.UA article.
Toxic Passport
Migrants from Central Asia have become a resource for replenishing the steadily growing losses of Russian occupation troops in Ukraine. For example, in 2022, among Tajiks alone, almost 174 thousand people became holders of Russian passports. And there are also Uzbekistan and other countries of the former USSR, millions of whose residents have chosen the path of labour migrants.
In 2023, the Russian authorities simplified the requirements for foreigners to obtain citizenship, but this did not help much. As a result, according to official data from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, only 63.6 thousand people applied for an “Ausweis” ( 55.4 thousand of them were approved ). The main reason for the decline in interest was the full-scale war unleashed by the Kremlin in Ukraine and the fact that the new citizenship required registration for military service and serving in the army. This by default means being sent to Ukraine.
The Russian passport has long been toxic, but now for many, it has become a one-way ticket – thousands of migrants have already encountered this. The terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, after which a wave of anti-migrant actions swept across the Russian Federation, hit the same Tajiks hard. Moreover, the first to do so were Russian security forces, who were given the go-ahead by the Kremlin to conduct raids and “catch illegals.”
Yes, some of those illegally staying on the territory of the aggressor country were deported, but a considerable number of those who had already received Russian citizenship were simply taken to the military registration and enlistment offices. Moreover, even at the ceremony of presenting Russian passports, migrants were given summonses as a “bonus”.
But the most interesting thing is that among those who were forcibly sent to war were citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan who did not apply for Russian citizenship. However, this did not prevent Russian security forces from sending them to the ranks of the occupation forces, since there is no talk of any legality there in principle.
A Dangerous trap
A separate category of representatives of the Russian occupation forces are residents of exotic countries. For example, those from Nepal and Sri Lanka, have far from the slightest understanding of the reasons for a full-scale war, as well as what is happening on the territory of Ukraine.
For example, no one can accurately estimate the number of Sri Lankans who went missing in the war – only a small number of relatives of mercenaries contacted the authorities when they finally lost contact with their sons and husbands.
It has already reached the point that at the end of June, Sri Lanka demanded compensation from Russia for the dead and wounded citizens of the country who participated in the “SVO”.
The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that during a meeting with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and the Russian Deputy Defence Minister, a delegation of Sri Lankan diplomats, led by Foreign Minister Tharaka Balasuriya, raised the issue of “ payments to the families of the dead and wounded, as well as early termination of contracts with Sri Lankans and payment of remuneration.”
Russia’s reaction to this led to a scandal. First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defence Committee Alexei Zhuravlev said that, supposedly, “they are not there.” “There are no Sri Lankan military officially listed in the Russian army, we have not declared mobilization there, no agreements on the exchange of military specialists between the countries exist in nature,” he cynically stated.
The Russian deputy also added, “In this situation, one cannot take seriously claims that are deliberately distorted and exaggerated.” This is despite numerous photos and video evidence. But, as we know, this is common practice for an aggressor country.
In May 2024, Russia also significantly stepped up its campaign to recruit foreign mercenaries for the war against Ukraine in Central Africa: in particular in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and Uganda.
The recruitment of Africans is carried out by a specially created unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, mercenaries are attracted by a starting cash payment of two thousand dollars for signing a contract, they are promised a monthly allowance of 2,200 dollars, medical insurance, and a Russian passport for the “liberator” and his family members.
Of course, no one explains to the Africans what awaits them in reality, and they, in turn, expect to escape poverty. The money promised by recruiters for residents of the same Uganda is simply astronomical since in this country the salary for low-skilled workers is 100 dollars a month – practically the limit.
Mercenaries have only one function.
Dark-skinned ROV mercenaries have been spotted in combat zones in various regions of Ukraine: in the Kherson region, in the Donbas, and even during the recent offensive in the Kharkiv region.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence says it is certainly not worth considering the residents of Nepal, Uganda, Sri Lanka, etc. as good warriors.
“The contingent that fell for the tricks of Russian recruiters are mostly very poor and poorly educated people who have never held a weapon in their lives and do not speak English, let alone Russian. They have one function – to become cannon fodder with which the Russians storm the positions of our military. How many of these mercenaries die – the Russian commanders do not care at all,” our interviewer in military intelligence told OBOZ.UA.
According to him, the Russian occupiers do not even remove the bodies of the mercenaries. Because there is no point in wasting time and energy since the relatives of the dead are thousands of kilometres away anyway. And so – he disappeared, well, he disappeared. Or maybe this foreigner was not here at all. As they say, no body, no case.
Due to the brutal treatment of Russian commanders and failure to meet expectations, many mercenaries desert – realizing that they have been sent to certain death. For example, according to the GUR, the Nepalese and Sri Lankans do this en masse.
Also, foreign mercenaries of the Russian occupation forces willingly surrender to the Ukrainian Defence Forces. For example, citizens of Nepal, Cuba, Sierra Leone and Somalia said at a press conference in Kyiv that they did not expect to be sent to the front lines because they were not in any way trained to fight and did not know the language. The Russians assured them that “they will work in logistics, in field hospitals.”
If they did not manage to commit war crimes on the territory of our country, then as a result of negotiations with representatives of the authorities of their countries, the mercenaries have a chance to return – of course, not to Russia, but home.
oboz.ua
