The Russian Ministry of Defense is offering Central Asian migrants monthly payments of up to $4,160 for being sent to the front in Ukraine and a bonus of $2,390 for signing a contract to serve in the Russian army.
Source. This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense in its daily intelligence report on Twitter.
Russian recruiters, who speak Tajik and Uzbek, are trying to recruit people in mosques and immigration offices. In addition to monetary bonuses, they promise them accelerated processing of Russian citizenship – six months to a year instead of the usual five years.
At the same time, London believes that migrants recruited for service are likely to be sent to the front line, where Russian troops suffer heavy losses.
The Ministry of Defense is recruiting migrants as part of a plan to recruit 400,000 volunteers to fight in Ukraine. According to analysts, this is Moscow's way of trying to find an alternative to compulsory mobilization, which could be an extremely unpopular step.
London does not rule out that high salaries and bonuses may encourage some migrants to sign a contract to serve in the Russian army.
As reported, the authorities of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have reminded their compatriots that they face criminal liability with a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for participating in hostilities on the territory of foreign countries.