Russia has launched a propaganda campaign aimed at recruiting Russia Germans into its army.
Russia is recruiting ethnic Germans into the ranks of the Russian army
The publication refers to organisations that represent the interests of ethnic Germans in Russia. In recent months, they have begun to promote the war among their target audience, paying particular attention to attracting young people to the ranks of the army.
This is reported by The Telegraph.
It is noted that this fact is alarming and potentially embarrassing for Berlin, as Russia is actually using German culture against Ukraine. At the same time, about 400,000 ethnic Germans may live in the Russian Federation, who were persecuted during the USSR, and are now marginalised by the Kremlin.
The Telegraph has seen propaganda materials from a Russian-German house in Tomsk, which urges ethnic Germans to donate to the Russian army and attend free pro-war concerts.
Also, the Russian-German House in Novosibirsk held summits in support of the invasion of Ukraine, and young people were massively urged to enroll in the "Wagner" PMC.
At the same time, the propaganda materials were first discovered by a community of Germans from Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia, who called on their Russian colleagues to conduct a campaign against the invasion. The community hopes that the German government will take action against the use of its language and culture in military propaganda.
Russia is recruiting mercenaries for the war against Ukraine
In the summer of 2023, it became known that residents of Nepal, who came to Russia to study, were being recruited for the war against Ukraine. The main argument for making such a decision were money.
In December, Nepal issued an official statement calling on Moscow to stop recruiting its citizens for the war and to return the bodies of those who had already died.
A mercenary of the Russian army from Somalia, Muhammad Adil, was captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the beginning of January 2024. Online.ua journalists managed to ask the captured foreigner why he came to Russia, how he got into the occupier's army, how much he trained before he got to the front line, and which of his decisions he regrets.