Russia continues to advertise and seek to recruit foreign nationals to join the Russian Armed Forces to fight in Ukraine. Most often this is done under false pretenses or with the offer of financial incentives.

"The most recent leaflet, written in English, requests foreigners to join a 'special' unit in the Russian Army and highlights a monthly salary of $2,200, a signing on payment of $2,000, a Russian passport, free medical treatment and training," the UK Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence report on the X Social Network on Monday.

According to the UK Defense Intelligence, online recruitment adverts were distributed during the middle of 2023 specifically appealing to citizens of neighboring countries, sich as Armenia and Kazakhstan, with monthly salary offers of $1,937 and signing on payments of $5,140. During 2023 Russia had also been approaching central Asian migrants within Russia. More recently there have been reports of migrants from India and Nepal recruited and sent to fight in Ukraine.

The report suggests that "many of those that have been recruited are not professional soldiers but migrant workers and have been coerced to fight under false pretenses or with the offer of financial incentives."

The numbers of foreign nationals in the Russian Armed Forces are likely to be low and integrated in to established rather than 'special' units.

"Russia likely wishes to avoid further unpopular domestic mobilization measures and with significant casualties – currently estimated at 913 per day – Russia needs to continue to explore all recruitment avenues to maintain a high tempo of personnel in-flow," the UK Defense Intelligence said.