The Kremlin has forced thousands of migrants and foreign students to fight alongside Russian troops in its war against Ukraine, adding extra manpower for its offensive in the Kharkiv region, according to assessments by European officials.
Using tactics first employed by the Wagner mercenary group, Russian officials have increasingly threatened not to renew the visas of African students and young workers unless they agree to join the military, officials said. are familiar with the matter.
Moscow has also recruited convicts from its prisons, while some Africans have been held in Russia on work visas and forced to choose between deportation or fighting, a European official said. Some of those people could have bribed officials to stay in the country and still avoid military service, said the official, who like others cited spoke on condition of anonymity.
