Mercs Ukraine Recruits in Global South for Dwindling Ranks Warned of ‘Survival Time of Just Days’
07:15 GMT 15.07.2023 (Updated: 07:16 GMT 15.07.2023)
© AFP 2023 / GENYA SAVILOV
Subscribe
Russia’s Ministry of Defense warned earlier that to make up for large personnel losses sustained by Ukrainian forces during their stuttering “counteroffensive,” Kiev has intensified its campaign to recruit mercenaries, with several Western private military contractors with ties to the CIA apparently also involved in this recruitment.
"Ukraine is recruiting in the Global South because it no longer has people to send to the battlefield,” Brazilian military analyst and reserve officer Robinson Farinazzo told Sputnik.
Former Ukrainian combatants are currently stepping up the campaign unleashed across social media to persuade Brazilians to take part in the conflagration abroad, Farinazzo warned. He said that in addition to replenishing the ranks of fighters on Kiev’s side, the recruitment drive “has a propaganda effect."
As the much-hyped counteroffensive by Ukraine’s military has so far resulted in hefty personnel losses and the destruction of significant quantities of NATO-gifted military hardware, fresh emphasis was laid in July on the recruitment drive to shore up the ranks of fighters. Desperate to find more cannon fodder for the US-led proxy war being waged against Russia in Ukraine, the authorities in Kiev and their NATO puppet masters have been intensifying the campaign to get Brazilians to enlist as mercenaries.
Amid a shortage of experienced soldiers, specialized personnel and reliable intelligence, recruiters have been casting their gaze to the countries of the South, like Brazil, and even Russia itself. Russia’s Ministry of Defense earlier in the week warned that several Western private military contractors with ties to the CIA appeared to be knee-deep in this recruitment drive. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns was recently cited as making no bones about it, admitting to a recent “outreach effort” by the agency on the popular social media platform Telegram to recruit new spies. Pointing out that Russians were being shown “how to contact the CIA securely on the dark web,” Burns added, "We're very much open for business."
'Safari to Kill Russians'
In the Global South, the job offer from NATO and Ukraine is to fight at the frontline on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in high-risk offensive operations.
According to Robinson Farinazzo, the Brazilian media are misinforming their readers, "selling the narrative that the war in Ukraine is a safari to kill Russian soldiers," and that Brazilian fighters "will make posts on social media networks, and will be welcomed at home as heroes."
"Those who have been there [in Ukraine] have seen that this is not true. This is a high-intensity conflict in which many die no sooner they arrive on the front line, without even experiencing combat operations," said Farinazzo.
In 2022, at least three Brazilians died after joining the Kiev’s Foreign Legion. Under the current conditions of a counteroffensive, and as the West continues to pump Ukraine with military assistance, the conflagration is growing ever more dangerous, Farinazzo warned.
"The US has already sent 30-40 percent of its stocks of 155-mm ammunition to Ukraine. This is a very brutal artillery battle, the most ruthless conflict since the beginning of the millennium. I don't know if those setting off for there are aware of this,” the military analyst said.
14 July 2023, 10:08 GMT
According to the Brazilian Navy reserve officer, the Brazilians being lured to fight in Ukraine fit several profiles. The first group includes people ideologically committed to radical or neo-Nazi ideals.
“Latin American countries will encounter problems when such recruited people return [from Ukraine] after having been in contact with groups like Right Sector* and Ukrainian neo-Nazis… I see this as a future problem for the countries of the Global South,” remarked Farinazzo.
The other type of people that answer Kiev’s recruitment drive are thrill seekers looking for adventure, believes the analyst.
However, Kiev also targets another specific group of people in the crosshairs of their sweeping effort, as recently recruited Brazilian Léo Ortiz told Jovem Pan News. These are generally lower class people, who are in need, he said, adding:
"They told me that the situation was tense… and that I should think carefully." According to Ortiz, he was lured by promises of cash payments for participating in the fighting, a promise that was "unlikely to be kept.”
The case of Leo Ortiz confirms what the Russian Ministry of Defense warned about on July 10. Ukraine has embarked upon a sweeping new wave of recruitment among citizens of Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. The ministry noted that this is happening against the backdrop of the failure of another wave of mobilization in Ukraine following catastrophic losses of personnel among the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the MoD, since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation 11,675 foreign mercenaries from 84 states joined the fighting on the side of Kiev. Most of the fighters came from Poland - more than two and a half thousand people. Mercenaries also arrived from the USA, Canada, Georgia, Great Britain and other countries. By June 30, some 4,845 foreign mercenaries who were fighting for Ukraine had been killed and 4,801 had fled the conflict zone, according to the Russian MoD.
'Criminal' Recruitment
Furthermore, people from the South American country being enticed to fight on the side of the Kiev regime are not only endangering their own lives on foreign soil, but also risk criminal prosecution in Brazil, warned the president of the Association of Brazilian Police Delegates (ADEPOL) Rodolfo Queiroz Laterza. According to him, "the recruitment of Brazilian citizens to serve in foreign military or paramilitary groups may be qualified as a crime under the Law."
"Institutional and official recruitment with the promise of financial gain can constitute serious violations of the Brazilian legal system, with possible criminal and civil liability for those who try to commercialize this type of recruitment in Brazil," Queiroz told Sputnik Brazil.
Currently, recruitment campaigns "are conducted unofficially, via the Internet. If they were carried out institutionally, then Kiev and its allies could face criminal punishment," Queiroz said. The president of ADEPOL also warned that crimes committed by recruited Brazilians in the war zone in Ukraine can be prosecuted in Brazil in accordance with the "principle of extraterritoriality, provided for in article 7, II, paragraph a of the Criminal Code."
In 2022, Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "strongly advised" Brazilians against traveling to Ukraine.” Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry of the country does not guarantee assistance in the transfer of the the mortal remains of Brazilians killed in action, saying that there is no "regulatory or budgetary support to pay for the transfer at the expense of public funds."
This is what happened to André Luís Hack Bahi, whose relatives did not have the means to repatriate his body after his death in Ukraine in June 2022. The President of ADEPOL agrees with his country's Foreign Ministry and advises Brazilians not to follow in the footsteps of the late André Luís Hack Bahi.
"The scale of loss of life in this conflict is colossal, and according to reports by many Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries of foreign origin, the survival time at the front is only a few days," Queiroz warned.
The Russian Defense Ministry also warns Brazilians against joining the ranks of mercenaries of the Kiev regime. Despite the fact that Brazil is considered a friendly country, the Russian Armed Forces do not have the ability to distinguish foreign fighters from Ukrainian ones, or to ensure their safety in a combat situation.
"The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, during the ongoing special military operation, will continue to destroy foreign mercenaries, regardless of where they are on the territory of Ukraine," the MoD has warned.
*The Right Sector is an extremist organization banned in Russia.
