Syrian mercenaries in Russian service in Ukraine?

On Friday, President Putin gave the green light to bring volunteers from the Middle East “to the conflict zone”. Whether this is a serious plan or a new move in the propaganda war is open.

Syrian soldiers and a Russian instructor in Aleppo – does the brotherhood in arms also apply in the war against Ukraine?

Hassan Ammar/AP

In a video conference with the Security Council on Friday, President Putin agreed to use Middle Eastern volunteers in the war against Ukraine. Defense Minister Shoigu said 16,000 troops were ready to assist Russia in combat.

It is clear, said Putin, that the regime’s Western sponsors are sending mercenaries to Ukraine. “If volunteers from the Middle East now want to help the people of the Donbas of their own accord – not for money – then you have to make it possible for them to get into the conflict zone.”

On March 3, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced the establishment of the «International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine». 16,000 volunteers from over a dozen countries are ready for this, he said. The same number of soldiers that Shoigu also states.

Such information (the Ukrainian legion is now said to be 20,000 strong), whether from a Russian or Ukrainian source, is notoriously unreliable. They are part of the information war that is also constantly accompanying the war in Ukraine.

Reports and rumors that Russia was recruiting Syrian volunteers for the war in the Donbas existed even before the war began. Only Putin’s comment that they wanted to do this for free is new.

A Pentagon spokesman said ahead of Putin’s announcement Friday that it believed Russia was attempting to deploy Syrian fighters. But there is no evidence of their origin, number or level of education.

Is Turkey a role model for Russia when it comes to using mercenaries?

Syria is undoubtedly a possible recruitment area for mercenaries in Russian service. In 2015, Putin intervened on the side of the Asad regime in the civil war. With a brutal bombing campaign, Russia’s air force helped Damascus retake territory that the rebels and IS had wrested from it. Asad is deeply indebted to Putin. In addition to regular troops, a whole range of militias and auxiliary troops fought for the Syrian regime.

Turkey also used thousands of Syrian mercenaries. On the one hand in the war in Libya and in autumn 2020 also a few hundred men on the Azeri side in the campaign against Armenia. It is uncertain whether the Russians will actually copy this approach and, if so, whether the use of the mercenaries will pay off militarily.

The agency AP quotes experts from Syria, according to which the Russian Wagner Group, itself a mercenary company, was recruiting in the Syrian provinces near the Iraqi border. Wages are also quoted, ranging from $200 a month up to $3,000 for specialists. The Russians, it is said, were primarily looking for troops suitable for house-to-house warfare, which resulted in heavy losses.

In the fog of war, rumors flourish

The detailed information gives the impression that verified information from a reliable source is available here. However, if you research the web for a little longer, you will quickly notice that the authors often copy each other.

So skepticism is appropriate. It is arguably true that there is a reservoir of fighters in Syria willing to go to war for money. The Turkish example suggests this. How the Syrians would fare in Ukraine – in a foreign environment, in a conventional war in freezing temperatures – is another question entirely. How motivated would the Syrians fight? BBC reports on Syrian mercenaries in Azerbaijan, for example, show overwhelmed and traumatized young men who were lured to the front with false promises.

What is certain is that Putin’s announcement is also part of his information war: it comes as a sort of reply to Zelensky’s announcement that Ukraine can count on help from volunteers. Two other propaganda goals could possibly be achieved with this: to further stir up fear in the Ukrainian cities with the threat of Arab, Muslim, i.e. “foreign” mercenaries. On the other hand, the news could reassure Russian conscripts and their families. Before they were mobilized, foreign professionals would take their turn for Putin’s “special military operation.”

Zelensky once again showed himself to be superior in the war of words: he asked how mighty Russia would fare if it had to recruit fighters in Syria?


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