Russia fraudulently recruits foreigners for war against Ukraine - British intelligence
The UK Ministry of Defense reported this on X with reference to intelligence data, Ukrinform saw.
In a leaflet, written in English, foreigners are offered to join the "special" unit of the Russian army and are promised a monthly salary of $2,200, a signing on payment of another $2,000, a Russian passport, free medical treatment, and training.
In mid-2023, online recruitment ads were circulated specifically appealing to citizens of neighboring countries such as Armenia and Kazakhstan, with monthly wage offers of $1,973 and an enlistment payment of $5,140, the report said. Last year, Russia also appealed to migrants from Central Asia within the country,
Recently, there were reports that migrants from India and Nepal were recruited and sent to fight in Ukraine.
"It is likely that many of those that have been recruited are not professional soldiers but migrant workers and have been forced to fight under false pretences or with the offer of financial incentives," believes British intelligence.
The number of foreign nationals in the Russian armed forces is likely to be small, and they will be integrated into regular rather than "special" units.
"Russia likely wishes to avoid further unpopular domestic mobilisation measures and with significant losses - currently estimated at 913 per day - Russia needs to continue to explore all recruitment avenues to maintain a high tempo of personnel in-flow," the intelligence report said.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, referring to the General Staff, Russia’s total combat losses in Ukraine from February 24, 2022 to April 15, 2024 amount to about 454,420, of which another 770 were either killed or wounded in the last day.
