(SenePlus) – The Kremlin has forced thousands of migrants and foreign students to fight alongside Russian troops in its war against Ukraine, adding additional manpower for its offensive in the Kharkiv region, assessments show of European officials, reports Bloomberg.
Using tactics first deployed by the Wagner mercenary group, Russian officials are increasingly threatening not to extend the visas of African students and young workers unless they agree to join the military, according to sources close to the matter cited by Bloomberg.
Moscow is also recruiting detainees in its prisons, while some Africans in Russia on work visas have been detained and forced to choose between deportation or combat, a European official told Bloomberg. Some of these individuals were able to bribe officials to stay in the country and avoid military service.
“Russia’s practice of sending migrants and students into combat under duress dates back to earlier in the war,” added another European official cited by Bloomberg. These troops experience particularly high casualty rates as they are increasingly deployed in risky offensive maneuvers to protect better-trained units.
According to reports citing Ukrainian intelligence, Russia has launched a global recruitment campaign to enlist foreign mercenaries in at least 21 countries, including several African nations. Army recruitment drives offer signing bonuses and lucrative salaries for those who join as contract soldiers. Recruiters also targeted migrants and students who previously sought employment in Russia, and in some cases lured others with promises of lucrative work before forcing them to train and be deployed to the front lines.
“Russia’s ability to mobilize far greater numbers of troops could become a significant factor in the war as President Vladimir Putin seeks to capitalize on a shift in dynamics this year,” Bloomberg says.
For now, however, its forces are advancing only slowly into northeastern Ukraine and are suffering heavy losses, despite a shortage of troops and ammunition on the Ukrainian side.
Bloomberg cites the British Ministry of Defense as saying that the Russian army lost more than 1,200 people a day in May, its highest casualty rate of the war. Since the invasion began, Russia has seen some 500,000 personnel killed or injured, according to U.K. estimates, which Bloomberg could not independently verify.
In a meeting with foreign media in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Putin seemed to imply that about 10,000 Russian troops are killed or wounded every month and that Ukrainian losses are five times higher.
Although the Kremlin failed to achieve a breakthrough on the battlefield, it intensified a bombing campaign against Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Western officials say the attacks appear aimed at making the city unlivable.
In his quest to maintain public support in Russia, Putin has so far resisted large-scale mobilization. Russia says it was able to make up a significant portion of its losses – in terms of numbers if not the quality of troops – thanks to a voluntary recruitment campaign that attracted tens of thousands of people.
“There are currently between 35,000 and 37,000 African students in Russia, according to Yevgeny Primakov, head of Rossotrudnichestvo, an organization dedicated to spreading knowledge about Russia abroad. ‘Every year we enroll around 6,500 students from Africa to study for free in Russia,’ he told the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday,” the Bloomberg article concludes.
