June 1 ,2026:
The Russian military in Ukraine has become multinational, with nearly 50,000 soldiers from Central Asia, Africa and elsewhere serving as well-paid mercenaries for Russia. About half of these soldiers are killed, partly because Russia does not let the soldiers leave when their contracts are completed. Russian recruiters use not just financial incentives, but also pressure on migrants. Some foreigners are forced to choose between criminal prosecution and signing a contract.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, men from 136 countries have signed lucrative contracts to fight alongside Russian troops. So far, more than 3,000 foreigners remain in the military after service completion. The money may have been a factor, the $20,000 signing bonus and over $2,000 a month pay can change the lives of the poor families many of these foreign troops come from. Sometimes Russia does not make the promised payments, especially if the dead soldier has no next of kin to receive it, or no one complains when the payments are not made, including a substantial amount of cash paid for dead soldiers.
Despite the difficulties Russia continues to seek more foreign recruits. These foreigners are popular with Russian soldiers because the foreigners can be given most of the dangerous assignments.
Russia had earlier problems with foreign mercenaries. Two years ago, Russia was unable to recruit, mobilize or conscript enough Russians to fight. Even before the end of 2023, Russia sought ways to deal with this problem. One solution was recruiting 15,000 Nepalese men to fight in Ukraine. The Nepalese Russia recruited were not from the Gurkha region. Gurkha soldiers are much in demand as mercenaries and battalions of them serve in the British and Indian armies. Gurkhas were not interested in fighting for the Russians in Ukraine, so the Russians turned to non- Gurkha Nepalese who needed a job, any job, even if it was a dangerous one. The Nepal recruits were given little training when they entered Russian service in mid-2023. The troops were soon in Ukraine where they suffered casualties. By 2026 nearly half the Nepalese had become casualties. Four soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces and held as prisoners of war. Families back in Nepal appealed to Nepalese politicians to find a way they can contact their men in Ukraine. Russia did not provide any way for their Nepal mercenaries to send or receive mail to anyone in Nepal. That led Nepal to ban any more Russian recruiting in Nepal. Earlier Cuba did the same when Russian tried to recruit Cuban men to fight as mercenaries in Ukraine.
Russia has been seeking countries where they can recruit local men to be mercenaries but has had little or no success. Russia has a bad reputation because they are the ones that invaded Ukraine and now the Russians are losing, and most countries are fine with that or don’t care as long as the Russians do not try to recruit local men to be mercenaries.