"Strong hands"

Putin sent 10,000 migrants to the front

Migrants trying to leave Russia for Finland.(Bild: AFP/Jussi Nukari)

According to the Russian authorities, they have already sent 10,000 naturalized men to the war against Ukraine. These are often said to be forced recruitments. A Putin confidant speaks of "strong hands" for the front.

"We have already caught more than 30,000 (migrants) who received citizenship and did not want to register for military service, and have sent about 10,000 of them to the special military operation zone," said the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, at the St. Petersburg Lawyers' Forum.

Bastrykin was a fellow student of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and is considered to be his close confidant. The immigrants are mainly responsible for digging trenches and building fortifications. "You need really strong hands for that," said Bastrykin.

Forced recruitment is now part of everyday life
In recent months, the security forces have repeatedly raided companies with migrant workers - primarily from the post-Soviet states in Central Asia. Migrants who have already received a Russian passport are then often forcibly recruited, Russian media reported. Others are promised a simplified naturalization procedure if they are sent to the front.

According to Putin, a total of 700,000 Russian soldiers are currently on the front line. Some of these are men who were recruited in a partial mobilization in autumn 2022. As the measure was unpopular, the Kremlin wants to avoid further waves of mobilization and is looking for other ways to replenish the losses.

Bastrykin saw another advantage in the forced recruitment of naturalized citizens: many migrants would leave Russia this way, he said.