A one-way visa: Russia’s regional governments are recruiting Arab mercenaries to fight in Ukraine

As The Insider discovered, the recruitment of Arab mercenaries is carried out by a well-organized network of personnel from Russia’s migration service, officials from the Russian Foreign Ministry, and municipal leaders from Russian border regions. Their collective mission is to ensure a steady flow of fighters from countries like Syria and Yemen — nations facing severe economic and political turmoil. For the impoverished recruits, the promise of decent pay and the prospect of legal residency in Russia is compelling.

Contacts between prospective mercenaries and recruiters are established through Telegram and WhatsApp channels. The largest recruitment channel is called “Drug Rossii” (lit. “Friend of Russia”). Key figures behind this and similar platforms are listed in Ukraine’s Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) project. They include Russians Polina Azarnykh and Sergey Merzlyakov, along with a Syrian national residing in Russia, Abid Khalid Sharif Abid. Mercenaries are promised Russian citizenship (typically granted upon signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense) and a salary of no less than €2,000 per month.

Once contact is established, potential recruits are asked to send scanned copies of their passports and other documents. Lists of the recruited individuals are then sent to Russian officials in the country’s border regions, who are responsible for providing administrative support for visa processing and the deployment of mercenaries to the battlefield.