Syrian mercenaries sign up to boost Kremlin invasion force
IMAGES of cheering Syrian fighters holding up posters bearing the Z symbol of the Russian invasion have been broadcast by the Kremlin.
The footage on the Russian defence ministry TV channel appeared after President Vladimir Putin announced he would be sending foreign volunteers to fight in his faltering invasion.
Zvezda TV showed the gunmen holding the posters along with Syrian flags and banners bearing pictures of President Bashar al-assad.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, yesterday claimed that 16,000 fighters, mostly from the Middle East, have volunteered to join Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
In an address to the nation yesterday, President Voldymyr Zelensky of Ukraine condemned the move: “Who came up with the idea of throwing mercenaries against our people, thugs from Syria, from the country that was destroyed the same way as the invaders are destroying us now?”
It follows a report last month that Russia was recruiting Syrian mercenaries to serve as guards in Ukraine, receiving salaries of up to £230 per month.
Some Syrians skilled in urban combat have already arrived in Russia, a US official told The Wall Street Journal.
The foreign recruitment drive is a sign that Moscow’s invasion is not going to plan, a US defence official said. “We find it noteworthy that he believes he needs to rely on foreign fighters,” the official told The Guardian.
On the Ukrainian side, scores of volunteers have flocked to the conflict, with fighters from Britain, the US and elsewhere deployed to front lines.
Mr Putin has directed his defence minister to facilitate the travel of foreign fighters to Ukraine. “If you see there are people who want [to help east Ukraine’s separatists], then you need to help them move to combat zones,” he told Mr Shoigu in a televised meeting of the Russian security council.
“As for the supply of arms, especially Western-made, which ended up in the hands of the Russian army, of course I support the possibility of transferring them to the military units of DNR and LNR,” Mr Putin said, referring to the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in Ukraine’s east.