At the beginning of this year, Russian military personnel presented a "blacklist" to groups engaged in recruiting foreigners to fight in Ukraine. They were instructed to stop recruiting soldiers from the countries listed. Medianews.az reports that this was written by the online publication "Vajnıye istorii".
"Vajnıye istorii," specializing in journalistic investigations, was founded by media representatives who emigrated from Russia. They have registered the publication in Latvia. "Vajnıye istorii" operates in the Russian language.
According to Medianews.az, the publication states that the mentioned list mainly consists of countries considered to be friends of Russia. Overall, the list includes the names of 36 countries (China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, Venezuela, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, and others).
Recently, the British newspaper "The Telegraph" wrote that since launching the total war in Ukraine, Russia has recruited up to 18,000 foreigners from African, Asian, and Latin American countries under contract into the army by the end of 2025, with at least 3,300 of them killed.
The "Vajnıye istorii" publication reports that it has not yet been able to clarify at what level and by whom the decision banning the recruitment of foreigners from 36 countries to the Russian army was made.