Russia is recruiting about 1,800 foreigners a month into its army. This was announced by the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for Prisoners of War Affairs Andriy Yusov, quoted by Ukrinform and “Hromadske“.
According to him, in 2022, fewer than 100 foreigners were known to have been recruited into the Russian Armed Forces. In the first nine months of 2026 alone, their number exceeded 16,000.
“According to intelligence data, Russia's plan for 2026 is to recruit 18,500 foreigners. Most likely, this plan will be exceeded in the near future“, said Yusov. He added: “Every month, 1,800 foreigners agree to go and kill Ukrainians.“
Almost 49,000 foreigners have been or are in the Russian army
In total, the Coordination Headquarters has the personal data of almost 49,000 foreigners who have signed contracts and have served or continue to serve in the Russian army.
Yusov compared their number with the size of the armies of several European countries. According to him, the army of Belgium has about 20,000 people, that of Austria - about 22,000, and the size of the Slovak army is up to 16,000 people.
“This is truly a global threat, far from only for Ukraine. It is gaining momentum and the scale is increasing“, said Andriy Yusov.Over 3,000 people remain after the expiration of contracts
According to the representative of the Coordination Headquarters, attracting foreigners allows Russia to reduce social tension and demographic losses among its own population.
“Foreigners do not take them in order to return, nor to say to them: “Thank you for the service“. A mercenary or foreigner in the Russian army is worth less than a Russian citizen in any case,” Yusov said.
The Coordination Headquarters has identified over 3,000 cases in which Russia does not release foreigners after the expiration of their military service contracts.
It was previously reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense has concluded contracts with almost 46,000 foreigners from 151 countries. The difference from the nearly 49,000 people indicated by Yusov is likely due to a different reporting period or different criteria for inclusion in the data.
Sources: ukrinform.ua, hromadske.ua