Sébastien Le Belzic // Credits: Alexander NEMENOV / AFP 6:25 a.m., April 8, 2024

150,000 new Russian soldiers will be called up by July 15, most of them will be sent to fight in Ukraine. Despite everything, the Russian army still lacks soldiers. To fill this deficit, Moscow is calling on foreigners from Africa, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Russia launched its spring recruitment campaign this week. 150,000 soldiers will be called up by July 15, most of them will be sent to fight in Ukraine. Despite this, the Russian army still lacks soldiers. More than two years after the start of the war, the Kremlin forces need more and more men to hold the front and launch new offensives.

So to fill its ranks, Moscow calls on foreigners from Africa, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Lured by promises of high salaries and obtaining Russian citizenship, they found themselves on the Ukrainian front generally against their will. The first reservoir is made up of the 10 million Uzbeks, Tajiks and Kyrgyz who live in Russia, often without a work visa. 

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To attract them, the army offers them up to 2,000 euros per month to serve in Ukraine, five times the average Russian salary. Second method of recruitment abroad in friendly countries such as Cuba, Sierra Leone or India via specialized agencies.

This is what happened to this Indian who testified on social networks. "It was false promises to get us to come to Russia. We faked a contract when we arrived, we thought it was to be a security agent but it was a military contract. The Russians then took us to the border with Ukraine, it was some sort of agents who told us it was just for training.”

His life was saved. Arrested in Ukraine, he was finally able to flee and return to India. But many of these foreign soldiers end up as cannon fodder, killed or imprisoned in Russia if they try to desert.