illegally recruits foreigners. international legions. war in Ukraine. russian news. rt

The kremlin is spreading disinformation about ‘heavy losses’ and ‘illegal recruitment’ of foreign volunteers into the Ukrainian armed forces. russia has launched a broad propaganda campaign to discredit the international legion of the Ukrainian army. But in reality, the most dire situation with ‘foreign volunteers’ is in the aggressor country itself.

● In Colombia, South Korea, Germany and other countries, fake news is being spread about ‘huge losses’ among international legions, dirty “recruitment” methods and Ukraine's ‘failure to comply’ with its obligations to volunteers. This fake news is part of a coordinated propaganda campaign by the kremlin.● The main goal of this campaign is to discourage citizens of other countries from joining the Ukrainian people's armed struggle for their freedom and independence.● In addition, moscow seeks to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community, claiming that Ukraine uses ‘mercenaries’ and conducts illegal recruitment activities in other countries.● Ukraine does not engage in mercenary activities, which are prohibited by international law. All foreign fighters have official status as servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and therefore enjoy full protection by the state, just like Ukrainian servicemen.● There are also no ‘unofficial’ military units or ‘private armies’ in Ukraine: foreign volunteers serve legally under contract.● However, it is russia that is illegally recruiting foreign citizens into its terrorist army. In particular, a group of individuals who organised an illegal recruitment scheme was recently detained in South Africa.Read more facts about the disinformation campaigns of the kremlin's special services against the International Legion here: https://www.stopfake.org/en/mass-deaths-and-organs-of-foreign-soldiers-ending-up-on-the-black-market-russian-disinformation-campaigns-against-international-mobilization-in-ukraine/
Fake: The United States is recruiting Filipinos to fight on the side of Ukraine, and Germany is helping.
This was stated by russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman maria zakharova. According to her, there is a scheme to recruit citizens through the American company RMS International with a salary of $5,000. The mercenaries are trained by US instructors and receive Schengen visas at the German embassy in Manila. 
In fact, Ukrainian government representative Georgy Tikhiy, in a comment to the Centre for Strategic Communications, called these statements baseless fantasies.‘These statements have no factual basis and do not correspond to reality. Ukraine and the Philippines have strong, friendly and dynamic bilateral relations based on mutual respect, trust and commitment to international law. Just yesterday, this was confirmed during a telephone conversation between the presidents of the two countries,’ he said.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that this is part of russia's systematic disinformation campaign. Earlier, a similar fake was already spread about alleged ‘recruitment’ in the Republic of Korea. Now russian propaganda is deliberately targeting countries in Southeast Asia.German Ambassador to Manila Andreas Michael Pfaffernoschke also publicly rejected the accusations in comments to journalists: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/11/28/russia-alleges-filipinos-offered-p300k-monthly-to-fight-in-ukraine/
Fake: Posters recruiting Koreans to join the Ukrainian army have appeared on the streets of Seoul.
This is how russian propaganda presents the alleged ‘posters’ promising South Korean citizens Ukrainian citizenship and even ‘the right to destroy North Korean citizens.’ Such ‘messages’ are spread by anonymous russian Telegram channels. In reality, there were no such advertisements in Seoul.   
In fact, volunteers from other countries can officially join the Ukrainian armed forces in the International Legion. This is no secret. And the number of foreign soldiers in the total number is even less than 1%. These people consciously join the ranks of the Ukrainian army to fight alongside Ukrainians against the terrorist army of dictator putin. 
With such fakes, trussia is trying to cover up the real facts about its own ‘black’ recruitment of foreigners from poor countries who are willing to risk their lives for a few thousand dollars. Most of these mercenaries do not survive because the russian command does not provide them with adequate training, support and social guarantees.
Fact: more than 200 Kenyans are fighting on russia's side in Ukraine.
This was reported by the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the mercenaries are former security forces employees. In total, according to Ukraine, there are about 1,400 Africans in the ranks of the russian army, some of whom were recruited through deception.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudawadi said that some citizens were used for dangerous work: they were forced to assemble drones and work with chemicals without training or protection: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddrj3mzgz2o
Kenyan President William Ruto appealed to Ukraine to help secure the release of Kenyans in the combat zone. We reiterate that russia is actively exploiting vulnerable groups across Africa, recruiting them for war through fake contracts and fraudulent schemes.
Fact: In India, relatives of citizens who were deceitfully recruited into the russian army held a rally.
The participants demanded a response from the government and the return of their sons and brothers. According to them, the men went to russia supposedly for training or work, but were sent to the front by force or through fraud.
Some of them went missing or were killed. The families received neither the bodies nor any compensation. This is further evidence of how russia uses foreigners as ‘cannon fodder’ to conceal the true extent of its losses.
We have also previously written about mercenaries from north korea, China, Nepal and Mali, whom russia is using in the war against Ukraine.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org, Spravdi.ua