According to the British Ministry of Defence Russia is trying to recruit people in Armenia and Kazakhstan to fight in Ukraine. The Kremlin would do that through online advertisements, the ministry reported on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. Those ads offer more than $5,000 as a down payment and about $2,000 as a salary. Russia would mainly recruit in the northern region of Kostanai in Kazakhstan, among the ethnic Russian population there.
The Kremlin has been approaching migrants from Central Asia to fight since May. They are promised an accelerated procedure for a residence permit and salaries of up to $ 4,000. The British ministry adds that Russia is “likely to continue unpopular domestic mobilisation [wil] in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election” and that therefore migrants or people from other countries are recruited.
This article is also part of our live blog: Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering