Russia recruits Syrians to fight in Ukraine in exchange for citizenship - media
Kyiv • UNN
Syrian citizens are being deceived into signing contracts with the Russian military, promising them jobs and citizenship, but in reality being sent to fight in Ukraine.
The Russian authorities recruit Syrian citizens and promise them jobs at gold mines in Yakutia. In fact, they are offered to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense in exchange for Russian citizenship, after which they are sent to the war in Ukraine. This information was found out by Novaya Gazeta, reports UNN.
Details
According to the newspaper, intermediaries from Syria are recruiting Syrians. One of them previously recruited people for Wagner PMC operations in Libya. His name is Wasim al-Dimashki. He tells the men that they will come to Yakutia to guard gold and diamond mines for a salary of up to two thousand dollars and Russian citizenship.
The publication claims that 40 Syrians have recently arrived in Russia. For each recruit, Wasim receives 337 dollars. In Moscow, they are met by Professor Akram Dib Tarraf. It is assumed that he may also be Syrian. For each recruit who signs a contract with the Russian armed forces, Akram allegedly receives 320 thousand rubles. However, it was not possible to find out who exactly pays him this money.
From Moscow, Syrians fly to Yakutia, where they are divided into two groups. One is sent to Ulan-Ude to learn a military specialty, and the other to a field camp in the European part, where they train as infantrymen. They sign contracts (in Russian) in Russia. After that, they receive Russian passports
One of the Syrians in the training camp said in a voice message received by the journalist that they were told they were going to guard the gold mines, but in fact Wasim al-Dimashki sold them out as soldiers.
It is noted that the flow of Syrians wishing to sign a contract is not the result of Russian propaganda, but the consequence of a real deception on the part of their compatriots.
Addendum
The journalist also tells the stories of several Syrians. He met two of them in Russia, and they shared an apartment for a while. Both of them received student visas from the Russian consulate in Damascus. Samir's visa cost 2,500 dollars, and Mohammed's cost three.
They said that they were actually deceived, because the intermediary who helped with the invitation from the university and the paperwork said that the amount included tuition for a year, but in fact it turned out that only the first semester of study at the university was paid.
Samir and Mohammed tried to get to Europe through Poland and then Finland, but they failed.
Two other Syrian migrants were detained in Pskov for violating migration laws, as their visas had expired. They were offered deportation or signing a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. At the same time, the men were promised that "they will not hold weapons in their hands: they will serve exclusively as doctors.
Both Syrians were enrolled in a training camp but changed their minds about serving in the Russian army. They are expected to be deported afterwards.
