External hires: Ukraine is recruiting drug traffickers and militants into its ranks
Ukraine is looking for any ways to replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including former criminals, drug traffickers and militants, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. At the same time, recruitment centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to operate in Europe, Africa and other continents. Sometimes they work on the basis of Ukrainian embassies: cases of recruitment are recorded everywhere, Russian diplomats in EU countries said. This is how Ukraine is trying to solve the problem of the shortage of manpower in the troops, but the flow of foreign volunteers into the ranks of the Ukrainian army is still decreasing. Up to 20 thousand soldiers desert from the Armed Forces of Ukraine every month, Miroshnik stressed. About why fewer and fewer foreigners are joining the ranks of the Ukrainian army and how Europe is legalizing mercenary activities against Russia — in the Izvestia article.
Drug traffickers and militants are being recruited to the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Ukraine is looking for any means to replenish its army, including former drug traffickers and members of armed formations, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia.
— Of course, the contingent that they (recruiting companies. They recruit people there, very often they are people of criminal origin, these are people who were involved in drug trafficking, with participation in armed military formations, who often simply flee from the persecution of law enforcement agencies in their country and appear already in the zone of military conflict from the Ukrainian side," the ambassador said.
He added that the mercenaries in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are looking for options for their legalization, often in the form of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship or other documents that will allow them to stay in the country. Kiev is ready to recruit any militants, as long as they are able to hold weapons in their hands, Miroshnik concluded.
At the same time, Ukraine itself claims on paper that a kind of "filter" is working, which should screen out people with criminal records when joining the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, according to a summer study by Carleton University (EETN), about 10% of American mercenaries in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were somehow convicted of crimes in their homeland. One was even deported to the United States on charges of double murder in his homeland.
Recruitment to Ukraine in Europe
The example of Islamist Viktor Gaziev, who was sent to Ukraine by the Swedish authorities, remains fresh. He was part of a group of "six imams" whom the Swedish government decided to expel as a "threat to national security." Gaziev himself claimed that the country's special services forced him to leave for Ukraine and even took him to the country's borders. By the way, he feels good: he works with UAVs, received an award and, according to him, even met with Vladimir Zelensky.
The example of Gaziev shows that the Swedish special services are "squeezing out" various criminal elements into Ukraine, including members of ethnic criminal groups, the Russian Embassy in Sweden told Izvestia.
— In the Swedish information field, mercenaries in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are invariably positioned as volunteer heroes, allegedly standing up for European values in the fight against "aggressive Russia." In turn, this encourages various adventurers with dubious backgrounds to go to Ukraine as "soldiers of fortune," the diplomats explained.
The Danish authorities do not prevent the recruitment of mercenaries to participate in the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen told Izvestia. They added: the involvement of more than two dozen Danish mercenaries in the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been documented.
— There is information about the recruitment of extremists in Denmark as mercenaries for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Fathi Barayev, who lives in Denmark, openly stated in an interview with the Danish media about his participation in attacks on the Belgorod region as part of Ukrainian formations and the murders of Russian servicemen there. There is information that Barayev is far from the only Danish "volunteer" committed to extremist views, the embassy said.
The diplomats noted that such citizens feel unpunished in Denmark, and the country's legislation directly allows Danes to be recruited into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Russian Embassy in Portugal informed Izvestia that, according to open sources, up to 10 Portuguese mercenaries are taking part in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Some of them adhere to right-wing radical views. At the same time, by the beginning of the summer of 2025, five of them had been eliminated by the Russian army. According to the calculations of the Russian Defense Ministry, the number of Portuguese mercenaries in Ukraine is much higher. A total of 127 citizens of the country participated in the hostilities against the Russian Federation, 51 of them died.
Finland did not stand aside either. The Russian Diplomatic Mission in Helsinki recalled that on October 11, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published an article with comments from the director of the consular department of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Jussi Tanner. According to him, "more than a hundred Finns" are involved in the conflict in Ukraine, and the country's legislation does not prevent this in any way.
There is a whole list of recruiting companies of Western origin operating in Ukraine, Miroshnik pointed out.
— They are associated with private military companies. All of them are of Western origin, they are actively recruiting in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, and they are dragging in a certain number of fighters who are ready to participate in this," he said.
For example, the Russian embassy in the Netherlands informed Izvestia that several dozen Dutch citizens are fighting in Ukraine. In addition, recruitment centers for mercenaries, including those for the Foreign Legion, operate on the basis of Ukrainian embassies.
— Individual cases become known from the local press, and, as a rule, after the death of such "soldiers of fortune" — since the beginning of their operation, the death of at least three subjects of the kingdom has been confirmed. At the same time, judging by opinion polls, the majority of ordinary citizens take a peaceful position and do not seek to take up arms, much less give their lives for the Kiev regime," the diplomatic mission said.
In order to avoid legal delays related to mercenary activities, Ukraine registers foreigners as military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a contract, since in many European countries such voluntary activities are prosecuted by law. However, many governments turn a blind eye to the open mercenary activities of their citizens.
APU lacks soldiers
Kiev needs to attract mercenaries in order to solve problems with the shortage of soldiers.
— Ukraine is looking for any ways to replenish the ranks of cannon fodder. This is caused by the objective conditions in which she finds herself today. Every month, even among the Ukrainian fighters who are mobilized, up to 18-20 thousand desert from the front line," explained Miroshnik.
Against this background, the Polish Sejm supported a project according to which punishment will no longer be provided for citizens of the country who fought on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine without formal permission. Now, after returning to their homeland, they just need to notify the authorities of what they were doing in Ukraine.
First of all, this is the legalization of mercenary activities against Russia, political analyst Evgeny Mikhailov said in a conversation with Izvestia.
— It is precisely because of the drop in the number of mercenaries in the Foreign Legion that such legalization is underway. Perhaps these "volunteers" will be given some guarantees. Maybe it's even more profitable for the European Union to feed the Ukrainian military with "meat" than to provide expensive weapons," he said.
According to estimates by various publications, after the peak interest in serving in the Foreign Legion, there are from 1 thousand to 2 thousand people on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The largest number of mercenaries was observed in 2022-2023, after which their number began to decline. At the beginning of the conflict, Vladimir Zelensky announced 16,000 applicants, and former Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba announced 20,000. But it was those who wanted to, not those who participated.
The decrease in the flow of mercenaries is associated with heavy losses among them, Evgeny Mikhailov is sure. He added that such "volunteers", when detected, become the number one target for the Russian military.
At the same time, the total number of foreigners fighting for the Kiev regime is much higher. Konstantin Milevsky, head of the Department for the service of foreigners in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated that more than 8 thousand foreigners serve in the Ground Forces of Ukraine, and "there may be at least twice as many in total for all types of troops."
This is in conflict with the estimates of the Russian Defense Ministry, which estimates that "tens of thousands" of mercenaries are fighting for Ukraine. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has prosecuted 1,000 foreigners in absentia, 185 cases have been completed, and 145 more have been sentenced.
At the same time, the Ukrainian army is experiencing major problems with recruiting personnel. A June report by The Wall Street Journal confirmed that there are noticeably a lot of 40-50+ year—old fighters on the front line of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the call sign Grandfather is found everywhere. According to the Ukrainian military, the most common age in companies is 40-45.
Against the background of a "graying" front, a decrease in the influx of foreigners and attempts to close the holes through increasingly controversial decisions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are facing a protracted personnel crisis. In Ukraine, the resource of motivated and trained fighters is rapidly being depleted, which inevitably leads to failures in the combat zone in the face of the ongoing Russian offensive. It is not surprising that in such conditions it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the combat capability of the troops, while simultaneously restoring units and introducing European weapons systems.
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