Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said that Russia continues to massively recruit mercenaries from African countries to participate in the war against Ukraine. According to him, at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the Ukrainian side will initiate sanctions against such recruitment networks, and will also demand a lifetime ban on entry to the European Union for African citizens fighting on the Russian side.
He stated this during a speech at the forum “Ukraine – Africa: Past, Present and Future of Relations” on the occasion of Africa Day in Ukraine on May 26, a correspondent for Suspilny reports.
“Unfortunately, Russia does not stop recruiting African mercenaries. This is now gaining mass character. Having suffered huge losses on the battlefield, they found a way out by massively recruiting mercenaries from African countries. It is convenient for them, I must state this, because in the event of the death of a citizen of a country from Africa, it does not become publicly known, and they do not pay assistance to the relatives of the deceased. In Russia, they pay $50,000 to the family of the deceased,” said Sibiga.
According to the minister, in this way the Russian Federation is illegally drawing “African youth into a foreign war.” He stressed that on May 27, at a meeting of the heads of foreign ministries of the EU countries, the Ukrainian side will initiate the introduction of sanctions against the networks involved in this recruitment.
“I will be at the meeting of EU foreign ministers tomorrow, and I will also propose to sanction the chains, individuals, and infrastructure that involve citizens of African countries in Russia's war against Ukraine. And we will ask that those individuals, including citizens of African countries, who participated or will participate on the side of the Russians in military operations against us, be permanently banned from entering the European Union,” the Ukrainian Foreign Minister noted.
Sibiga also noted that this recruitment is often done fraudulently, adding that Ukraine is currently aware of about three thousand citizens from a dozen African countries whom “the Russian Federation has fraudulently sent to almost guaranteed death.”
“ They should know that by signing a contract to serve in the Russian army, they are simultaneously signing a sentence on their trains to the European Union, and we will achieve this,” added Sibiga.