Russians recruit African citizens to war in Ukraine due to lack of prisoners – UK Defence Intelligence

UK Defence Intelligence has analysed reports of Russia's attempts to recruit Africans to fight in the war against Ukraine and sees this as a sign that Moscow is already experiencing a shortage of mobilisation resources among prisoners, a category that it has previously relied on to reduce public discontent.

Source: the UK Ministry of Defence report of the Russian-Ukrainian war of 10 June, European Pravda reports

Details: The intelligence mentions reports from Ukraine's Defence Intelligence that Russia is stepping up its attempts to recruit citizens of African countries, including Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and Uganda, to fight against Ukraine, promising monthly payment of $2,000-2,200 and the prospect of Russian citizenship.

The UK analysts suggest that this campaign reflects Russia's attempts to actively replace significant losses in manpower and support offensive actions on many fronts at once.

Quote: "With Russia's finite pool of convict recruitment likely culminated, Russia is likely expanding its recruitment across the global south, to avoid additional mobilisations within Russia itself. As well as being domestically unpopular for President Putin and the Russian government, the previous mobilisation for the war resulted in a record labour shortage and an exodus of skilled workers such as doctors and IT professionals."

Background:

• In a previous report, UK Defence Intelligence drew attention to the latest Russian measures put in place to protect the Crimean Bridge from Ukrainian attacks.
• The UK intelligence service suggests that Ukrainian strikes on the Russian ferry crossing in occupied Crimea near Kerch have greatly hindered their logistics, in particular for military purposes.

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