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Nearly 80% of Captured Foreign Fighters Want Back to Russia—Moscow Won't Take Them
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Nearly 80% of foreign nationals captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting for Russia want to return to the country, although Moscow is largely unwilling to take them back, hromadske reported on October 29.
Andrii Yusov, deputy head of Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, revealed the figure during an October 20 discussion of the documentary "Predatory Recruitment: Evans's Story."
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"They do not take into account that the Russian Federation and Putin mostly do not want to take them back and will not," Yusov noted, referring to the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.
According to Yusov, some foreign prisoners claimed they had been unaware they would be sent to fight against Ukraine. Several maintained that they had traveled to Russia for civilian work, such as "painting fences," or to attend a "cultural festival."
However, a survey conducted by the Coordination Headquarters found that nearly 50% of captured foreign nationals acknowledged knowing they were joining the Russian military to fight against Ukrainians. The findings indicate that a substantial share of those surveyed understood the nature of their recruitment before arriving on the battlefield.
Russia's recruitment of foreign nationals has drawn increasing attention amid reports of misleading employment offers and promises of high salaries. The hromadske documentary examines the case of Evans, a Kenyan citizen who signed a contract with the Russian military after accepting its promises of lucrative employment.
He subsequently ended up in Ukrainian captivity, with his experience illustrating how Russia recruits foreigners for its war against Ukraine.
The scale of that recruitment has grown sharply since the full-scale invasion, with Russia's Defense Ministry signing contracts with nearly 46,000 foreign nationals from 151 countries, up from just 94 contracts recorded in 2022.
Of the 18,500 foreigners Moscow aimed to recruit in 2026, 16,168 had already signed by October. Roughly 47% of captured foreign fighters joined hoping to obtain Russian citizenship, and some sought to return to Russia to collect promised contract payments and benefits.
Moscow has also used legal and administrative restrictions against migrants living in Russia without citizenship, presenting military service as one of the few routes to legal residency and a Russian passport.
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