Russia opens the doors to the influx of Syrian fighters after Ukraine attracted thousands of Western recruits.
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened the door for volunteers to join the war in Ukraine, without specifying the nationality of these volunteers except that they are from the Middle East.
With the entry of fighters from outside the Russian and Ukrainian armies into the war equation, the battles will have taken a dangerous turn, a matter of concern even to the leaders of NATO armies, as stated by the Chief of Staff of the British Army, Admiral Tony Radkin. After thousands of Western volunteers moved to fight alongside Ukraine, the Russian president opened the door to an influx of 16,000 volunteers from Russia and abroad - including Middle Eastern countries - to participate in the war, in a situation that military experts say is a natural response to the official Western campaigns that urge the war on Ukraine. Expanding the circle of war and internationalizing it by including fighters of different nationalities.
Experts say that Putin made the argument against Western countries; He let it mobilize and attract thousands of fighters in order to turn Ukraine into a quagmire from which it is difficult for the Russians to get out, and then used the foreign fighters' card in the battles.
They pointed out that Russia will not accept volunteers who will be a heavy burden on it and its Ukrainian separatist allies, and that it will pave the way for the entry of those who participated in the war in Syria and Libya and have field experience in the guerrilla war that Europe wants to push the conflict to, as the West bet on volunteers mostly who are Among the retired military and security personnel in the armies and security companies, who will be used to operate the American and European weapons that are currently assembled and sent to Ukraine, and may need a long time to be trained by the Ukrainian military.
Putin made the argument against the West and left it mobilizing to attract thousands of Western fighters, then pushed the foreign fighters' card
"If you see that all these people want to come to help the people who live in Donbass, of their own free will and not for money, then we should give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone," Putin said.
It is noteworthy that the Russian president had indicated that the Ukrainian separatists would obtain Western weapons of the type with which Ukraine is fighting and that the Western volunteers would obtain to confront Russia, in a provocative step especially for the United States, which enabled Ukraine to target tanks and planes.
"As for the delivery of weapons, especially those made in the West that fell into the hands of the Russian army, I, of course, support the possibility of giving them to the military units of the Lugansk and Donetsk republics," Putin added.
For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also proposed the delivery of US-made anti-tank systems such as Javelin and anti-aircraft Stinger to separatist fighters in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, stressing that Western weapons are flowing into Ukraine in a "totally uncontrolled" way.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Russian Defense Minister noted that "most of the people who want to fight and asked for it are citizens of countries in the Middle East and Syria," adding, "If the West is very enthusiastic about the arrival of mercenaries, we also have volunteers who want to sharing.”
This danger was warned by the Chief of Staff of the British Armed Forces when he stressed that the movement of UK citizens to Ukraine to fight was "illegal and unhelpful", calling on them to look for other means to support it in the face of the Russian invasion.
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"We were very clear (when we announced) that it was illegal and unhelpful for the British army or the British people to go to Ukraine," Radkin told the BBC.
The statements of Russian officials regarding the resort to volunteers from the Middle East caused panic in Kyiv, which did not seem to have calculated the Russian move when they urged Europe to bring in volunteers and involve them in the war.
"It is a war with a very stubborn enemy ... he decided to use mercenaries against our citizens," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday in a video clip on Telegram. Killers from Syria, from a country where the occupiers have destroyed everything, as they are doing to us.”
Kyiv says more than 20,000 foreigners from 52 countries have pledged to help fight the Russians. But these foreign recruits have unexpected surprises waiting for them, such as withholding their passports, Ukrainians imposing strict contractual requirements and poor vetting procedures, and logistical problems, as the Daily Mail pointed out.
Russia will not accept volunteers who will be a heavy burden on it and will pave the way for the entry of those who participated in the war in Syria and Libya
The newspaper quoted some conscripts as saying that they are not allowed to see the contract until they enter Ukraine, and that there is an emphasis that there is no return from the front until the end of the war, which is unknown, which means that conscripts may continue for years without taking leave to see their families.
While the Westerners continue to take small-scale decisions as sanctions against Moscow, Russia sends strong signals that it will respond twice to any Western move, especially with regard to the interests of Western companies that accept to join the Western boycott campaign, as Russian interests sent an eloquent message to these Companies say that the company that leaves is irreversible.
On Friday, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office announced the tightening of restrictions on foreign companies that decided to leave the country against the background of the invasion of Ukraine.
"The plaintiffs will impose strict control over compliance with the labor law, including the terms of employment contracts and procedures for paying salaries and determining their size," he said in a statement, noting that the measure was taken "to ensure the interests of project owners and conscientious employees" in companies that announced that they would leave the country.
In parallel, Russia has taken measures to stop the flight of foreign currency and capital as much as possible. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, without using the word "nationalization," that foreign companies leaving his country should be given to "those who want to operate them."
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