Russia has compiled lists of 40,000 Syrian army fighters and allied militias ready to deploy in Ukraine, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Tuesday, March 15.
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On March 11, the Kremlin announced that volunteers, including those from Syria, could fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, which has been captured by the Russian army since February 24. According to the OSDH, Russian officers, in coordination with the Syrian army and allied militias, opened reception centers in areas held by the Damascus regime.
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Over 40,000 Syrian volunteers
“To date, more than 40,000 Syrians have registered to fight for Russia in Ukraine,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the British NGO OSDH, in an interview with Wide Network of Sources in Syria. According to Mr. Abdel Rahman, Russian officers stationed in Syria as part of Moscow’s 2015 intervention to support the Damascus regime approved 22,000 of them. The fighters are either regular Syrian army units or pro-government militias trained by the Russians and experienced in urban combat, according to the OSDH.
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In a country where soldiers earn between 13 and 32 euros a month, Russia is promising them a salary of $1,100 (€1,000) for fighting in Ukraine, the Observatory reports. They are also entitled to $7,700 in injury compensation and their families will receive $16,500 if they die in action, according to the same source. At least 18,000 people will be placed under the leadership of the nebulous Wagner Group, a private Russian paramilitary company with ties to the Kremlin, the OSDH said, adding that it has not yet observed the dispatch of Syrian recruits to Ukraine.
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A spokesman for the Syrian government denied the existence of this recruitment campaign. “So far no names have been given, no soldiers have been registered and no one has traveled to Russia to fight in Ukraine,” Omar Rahmoun of the National Reconciliation Committee told AFP. Syrian mercenaries have already fought in Libya and in the Caucasian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The war tactics adopted by Russia in Ukraine are reminiscent of tactics Moscow has been testing for years in Syria, where the Russians have tested most of their weapons.
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