17 minutes agoDW: Russia seduces poor with salaries and citizenship, many end up killed in Ukraine
Periskopi(an hour ago)
(an hour ago)Russia is recruiting more and more foreign citizens, mainly from the poorest countries in the world, promising them high salaries, civil work and even Russian citizenship, to then be sent to the front line in Ukraine. So says a research published by Deutsche Welle (DW), which brings testimony to families of victims and survivors.
According to estimates of Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), about 27 thousand foreign citizens have been recruited from Russia to fight in Ukraine. A study by the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), the organisation Truth Hounds and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights (KIBHR) says Moscow has established a global network for foreign recruiting, targeting persons in serious economic, social and legal states.
One of the cases is that of Oscar Kagolia Müland, former military from Kenya, who traveled to Russia during 2025 with the promise of work. The family later learned that he had been sent to war and had lost his life. His body never returned to his family.
Similar confessions include Cuban Joan Viondi Mendoza, whose monthly salary and Russian citizenship was promised. He ended up on the Ukrainian front, where he later asked his family to get him out of the war as soon as possible. Shortly thereafter, his name appeared on the killing list.
According to research, many foreigners did not know they would end up in war. They were promised jobs in construction, logistics, insurance, or agriculture, but after arriving in Russia they were forced to sign Russian - language military contracts.
One of them is Arman Mondol from Bangladesh, who says he and other foreigners were used as a <x0m> saved alive” in military operations.
“were always taking us first to the line of fire, while Russian soldiers were behind us”, he confessed.
Mondol survived after the vehicle he traveled with exploded over a mine. He managed to escape from a Russian military hospital and with the help of the Bangladesh Embassy returned to his homeland, but still suffers from the physical wounds and psychological trauma of war.
Experts Ilja Nusov, one of the authors of the study, stresses that in many cases these practices can be considered human trafficking, as they include fraud, obligation and exploitation of vulnerable persons.
On the other hand, Russian authorities deny that they forcibly recruit foreign citizens. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has declared that all foreigners participating in war do so voluntarily and in accordance with Russian laws.
However, according to estimates by Ukraine's Co-ordination Staff for the treatment of prisoners of war, Russia can recruit up to 18,500 other foreign citizens for the war in Ukraine, showing that this phenomenon continues to expand.
