UK Intelligence services confirmed that the Russian Army was recruited by migrant workers from Central Asian countries to take part in the invasion of Ukraine, released in February 2022 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
British Intelligence cited information from Radio Free Europe, a US-funded station that has broadcast for the populations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia since the Cold War, and that even details the figures that Moscow offers to immigrants who enroll in their Army. They offer signing bonuses of $2.390 (about 2.163 euros) and salaries of up to $4.160 (about 3.765 euros) per month.
The information is based on stalls that have appeared on the streets and parks of Moscow, which through notable amounts of diners are intended to attract new fighters -men- to appear in Ukraine. The reports handed out by recruiters say those who wrote received an initial lump sum payment of 195.000 rubles ($2.390), followed by salaries of up to 340.000 rubles a month ($4.160) to participate in what the Kremlin calls its 'special military operation'. ' in Ukraine.
The advantages are not only focused on the economic aspect, but also that migrants have been offered to speed up the procedures to obtain Russian citizenship, so that it takes between six months and a year, instead of the usual five years.
As soon as Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Russian forces have recruited mainly from regions with lower income and higher poverty rates. That concluded a public study for the Russian media iStories and the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) think tank: according to their data, 23 of the 26 Russian regions that have sent the highest proportion of recruits have incomes below the national average.
in prison
In addition to the poorer regions, prisons also had to fight Putin's cause in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry has been recruiting prisoners from prisons in at least 25 different regions of the country to fight with the Russian Army in Ukraine, according to a BBC Russian investigation. The Wagner group itself, which will lead the siege of Bakhmut for nine months, has officially recruited more than 40.000 men in Russian prisons. This has been the case, at least officially, because in February the mercenary leader, Yevgueni Prigozhin, assured that they stopped looking for new members for their ranks in the prisons.
The Russian Army has recruited mainly in regions with lower income and higher poverty rates
“The recruitment of migrants is part of the Russian Defense Ministry's attempts to meet its target of 400.000 volunteers to fight in Ukraine. The authorities, with almost total probability, intend to delay any new mandatory mobilization as much as possible to minimize internal unrest ”, can be read in the latest report published by the Intelligence of the United Kingdom.
Despite the economic difficulties that Russia is going through as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, the number of Tajiks seeking to obtain Russian citizenship has not stopped growing in recent years.
According to recent figures from the Russian Interior Ministry, around 174.000 people with origins in Tajikistan will receive Russian citizenship in 2022: an increase from almost 104.000 in 2021. Russian adans. For their part, 27,220 Uzbeks will receive Russian citizenship in 2022. Of the 691,000 foreigners who acquired Russian nationality last year, Ukrainians stand out in first place, followed by Tajiks, Armenians, Kazakhs and, lastly, the uzbeks.
