{"id":1428929,"date":"2026-08-17T14:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/?p=1428929"},"modified":"2026-08-17T14:00:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:00:50","slug":"numbers-on-skin-instead-of-tokens-russia-marks-foreign-mercenaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/numbers-on-skin-instead-of-tokens-russia-marks-foreign-mercenaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbers on skin instead of tokens: Russia marks foreign mercenaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia uses a serial number system to mark foreign mercenaries it recruits into its army. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine believes that this allows for increased control over the military and effectively deprives them of personal identification.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was reported by<\/a> the GUR.<\/p>\n

Instead of regular military badges, foreigners are given so-called “inventory numbers” on their equipment or directly on their skin. For this purpose, permanent dyes, such as henna or jagua, are used. Such marks can last for several weeks, and if they become unnoticeable, they are reapplied.<\/p>\n

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Intelligence sources note that Russian security forces have already checked the presence of such numbers among foreigners, including students and migrant workers. In this way, the police are trying to identify possible deserters.<\/p>\n

According to the GUR, this practice resembles the prisoner numbering system in Nazi concentration camps, where numbers were used to erase a person’s identity.<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian intelligence also believes that marking can help the Russian Federation hide real losses among foreign mercenaries. The bodies of the dead can be left on the battlefield without identification, and the soldiers themselves can be registered as missing. This, according to the GUR, makes it possible to avoid paying compensation to their families in Africa and Asia.<\/p>\n

The intelligence service emphasized that such actions indicate Russia’s systematic disregard for the norms of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n

In particular, the GUR transfers the information received to foreign partners and law enforcement agencies for use in materials of future international investigations into the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

It was previously reported that Russia has stepped up its recruitment of citizens of Peru and other Latin American countries to participate in the war against Ukraine.<\/a> Recruiters are luring them with promises of high salaries, social guarantees, and simplified acquisition of Russian citizenship.<\/p>\n

Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , X<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia uses a serial number system to mark foreign mercenaries it recruits into its army. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine believes that this allows for increased control over the military and effectively deprives them of personal identification. This was reported by the GUR. Instead of regular military badges, foreigners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1428917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76874,76875],"class_list":["post-1428929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-war","category-other-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1428929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1428932,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428929\/revisions\/1428932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1428917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}