Russia recruited foreigners from 151 countries: how many of them knowingly went to fight against Ukraine?

Russia has signed contracts with almost 46,000 foreigners from 151 countries to serve in its army.

This was reported by Ukrinform, citing a statement by the Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, at the Crimea Global international conference.

According to Usov, previously the Ukrainian side had data on 28,000 foreigners from 138 countries recruited into the Russian army. Now their number is approaching 46,000, and the geography of recruitment has expanded to 151 countries.

In 2022, Russia signed only 94 contracts with foreigners. For 2026, the Russian Defense Ministry has set a plan of 18,500 contracts, of which 16,168 have already been signed.

The largest increase in the number of recruits was recorded among citizens of Indonesia, Peru, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Chad, the Philippines, Congo, Panama, Ecuador and Zimbabwe.

At the same time, the Coordination Headquarters published the results of a survey of foreigners who were captured by Ukrainian forces. Almost 50% of them knew that they were going to fight against Ukraine, and about 47% signed contracts in the hope of obtaining Russian citizenship.

In addition, 48.8% of those surveyed were captured wounded. Almost 79% said they wanted to return to Russia, not to their countries. According to Usov, some of them expect to receive the promised payments and benefits.

In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have taken prisoners of citizens of 59 countries. The Coordination Headquarters emphasizes that Russia systematically involves foreigners in the war, using military registration and enlistment offices.

As a reminder, the Main Intelligence Directorate previously reported that Russia plans to recruit at least 18,500 foreigners to its army in 2026. To this end, the Russian authorities have tightened checks on foreign men of draft age and expanded the work of contract recruitment points.

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