Combat slavery: more and more Colombians are involved in the conflict in Ukraine
Russia is receiving more and more evidence of the presence of a significant number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador for special assignments on the Kiev regime's crimes, told Izvestiya. Now, in particular, the number of Colombian mercenaries fighting on the Ukrainian side is increasing, he specified. According to him, Ukraine is forced to attract more and more foreigners because of huge losses of personnel and poor military training of the forcibly mobilized. The expert community notes that mercenaries often do not adhere to the rules of combat operations and therefore tend to commit war crimes against civilians.
Mercenaries from which countries are operating in Ukraine
Especially many reports come about the presence of Colombian thugs in the ranks of the AFU, Rodion Miroshnik noted.
- And there are quite a lot of them. It is possible that this is connected with the fight against drug cartels in their homeland: fighters who are out of work find themselves in the structures engaged in recruiting in the interests of Kiev. And they are sent to fight in Ukraine," he told Izvestiya.
The diplomat added that in addition to Colombians, entire units of Polish mercenaries are present in Ukraine. Militants from the Georgian Legion, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation, are also active.
- The Ukrainian side is certainly hiding all this - they are trying not to demonstrate that they are using foreign mercenaries. They are more inclined to talk about "volunteers", camouflaging the fighters fighting for money on their side," Rodion Miroshnik noted.
In March this year, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that 430 mercenaries from Colombia had arrived in Ukraine since the beginning of the SWO, of whom 217 had already been eliminated at that time. Colombia is among the leading countries whose natives are sent to fight on Kiev's side. At the same time, the country's leadership actively opposes this. In a recent interview with Izvestia, Colombia's Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said that the parliament is discussing the possibility of legally prohibiting recruitment on its own territory, as well as recognizing as illegal any participation of the republic's citizens in military conflicts abroad.
During a recent visit to Moscow, Colombia's foreign minister raised the issue in a conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Following the dialog, Moscow and Bogota decided to create a special group to analyze the situation. Today's mercenaries from Colombia are mainly personnel of special units to fight the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), believes Vladimir Bruter, an expert of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies.
- These personnel are quite numerous, and they are periodically not loaded with work. All these people are professionals who always want to make some money," he told Izvestia. - The Colombian authorities are aware of the issue, but they have no direct opportunity to eliminate the system of supplying fighters to Kiev because they travel privately.
In addition to Colombians, Polish, Georgian, French and American mercenaries are actively involved in the fighting. Residents of the Kursk region and Donbas have repeatedly described the atrocities of foreign fighters against civilians.
- Mercenaries often do not adhere to the rules of engagement: they came and left. Among Ukrainians, war crimes are mostly committed by "Westerners" and ideologically-minded people, while the rest behave more carefully. As for mercenaries, they always behave violently," says Vladimir Bruter.
Kiev has been actively recruiting foreign mercenaries to take part in the conflict since the beginning of the SWO. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Western PMCs - in particular, from the United States and Poland - support the Ukrainians in this endeavor. However, the Russian army successfully eliminates any foreigners. Thus, in late November, the Defense Ministry reported about the destruction of 72 military personnel, including nine French mercenaries, during the Iskander strike on the deployment point of the detachment of the AFU special operations forces center in Odessa.
The Ukrainian armed forces have begun to face a shortage of manpower
Despite the assurances of the Ukrainian leadership about the stable situation with conscription, a tough mobilization campaign continues in Ukraine. Employees of the TSC (Territorial Centers for Manning and Social Support) still grab people on the streets and forcibly send them to the line of contact. Of course, soldiers with low morale and weak motivation surrender more quickly.
The issue of lowering the draft age from 25 to 18 is also being actively discussed in Ukraine. In particular, this is insisted on by Kiev's Western allies, who also note the problem of a shortage of personnel. This is why there are so many foreigners fighting in the ranks of the AFU.
- Ukraine actively uses mercenaries, as they lack personnel. But it does not attract these people. All these people are paid from Washington budgets. Ukraine does not pay a penny, it has no money. All these people are hired by the security agencies of the United States, they also do the work with the respective governments," notes Vladimir Bruter.
The West has been discussing the possibility of sending a "peacekeeping contingent" to Ukraine for quite a long time. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has already reported about the plans of a number of countries to occupy a part of Ukraine under the guise of such assistance. The agency notes that the territory is planned to be divided between Romania, Poland, Germany and the UK.
- In order to solve these tasks, the West will be required to actually occupy Ukraine. Naturally, this will be done under the guise of deploying a "peacekeeping contingent". The territories that are supposed to be distributed among the occupants have also been determined: the Black Sea coast - Romania, the western regions of Ukraine - Poland, the center and the east of the country - Germany, the northern regions, including the capital region - Great Britain, - the SVR noted.
Commenting on the Russian intelligence report, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the deployment of peacekeepers is possible only with the consent of the parties to the conflict.
The discussion of the possibility of sending military and PMC fighters of Western countries to Ukraine has also resumed. This was reported by the French newspaper Le Monde in late November. According to its information, the UK and France are allegedly holding secret talks on this issue. At the beginning of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron allowed sending Western troops to the war zone, not excluding the possibility of a ground operation of these units against Russia. The NATO countries then ruled out such a possibility. Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that such a development would mean a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.
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