UK Defence Intelligence reveals how Russia persuades migrants to fight in Ukraine

Russia resorts to legal persecution of migrants, mainly from Central Asia, to force them to join the armed forces and fight in Ukraine. 

Source: UK Defence Intelligence update dated 2 July on Twitter (X), as reported by European Pravda 

Details: The review states that during a speech at the St Petersburg International Legal Forum on 27 June, Aleksander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, said that the Russian authorities had identified 30,000 migrants who had recently become Russian citizens and were not registered for military service. 

Bastrykin also boasted that 10,000 of them had already been sent to the war zone in Ukraine. Bastrykin claimed that these migrants would be "digging trenches" and performing other duties in the rear. 

Russian independent media have previously reported that Russian law enforcement agencies are conducting a campaign of legal persecution of migrants, especially from Central Asia, in an attempt to persuade them to join the Russian armed forces in exchange for citizenship or to avoid arrest on trumped-up charges. 

This is another way for the Russian Federation to increase recruitment while trying to limit its influence on those parts of the Russian population that are more politically active. 

Background:

• The UK Defence Ministry noted the first anniversary of the Wagner Group's "March for Justice" in its Russian-Ukrainian war intelligence review dated 24 June. 
• UK Defence Intelligence has assessed the risks for the Russian government associated with the practice of sending prisoners to fight in Ukraine and their return to Russia.

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