Russia Recruits Fighters From Central Asia To Fight In Ukraine; Offers Them Money, Citizenship

The Russian army is offering money and citizenship to fighters in Central Asia who are willing to be deployed to the war in Ukraine, according to a report.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF) said in the report that the effort by the Russian army aims to resolve the gradually decreasing rate of Russian citizens volunteering to join the invasion.

"The number of Russian citizens who want to go to war in Ukraine is gradually decreasing. To at least partly preserve the opportunity to form new reserves, the Kremlin leadership is trying to more actively engage foreign citizens in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," the UAF said.

Apart from recruiting Central Asian citizens, the Russian army has also urged military commissioners and police departments in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to use "agitation measures" to recruit residents in newly formed battle units, the report said.

Additionally, the UAF General Staff said that the Russian army is forming four battalions in Chechnya that will be deployed to Ukraine. The battalions will be made up of local men kidnapped by Chechen security forces.

This is not the first time Russia has resorted to unconventional methods to recruit fighters for the war in Ukraine. In early August, "Putin's chef" Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is said to have connections with the infamous Wagner Group, was allegedly looking into recruiting 1,000 convicts from 17 prisons as soldiers. Prisoners who sign up for the Russian army are offered a salary and a presidential pardon.

In July, the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine released a recording of an intercepted phone call where a Russian soldier was heard complaining about the new recruits who were drunk women and old men.

Russia's recruitment efforts come as Moscow continues to see increasing losses among its military personnel nearly six months into the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin has yet to release its official military death toll since March. However, as of Wednesday, an estimate from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine put the Russian military death toll at 44,100.