Yemeni men were duped into fighting in the Ukraine war after traveling to Russia on the promise of high salaries and citizenship, according to a report in the Financial Times.
One recruit, who traveled to Russia with the help of a Houthi-linked company, told the FT that he was promised a $2,000-a-month job with a $10,000 bonus.
However, he said when he arrived in Russia, he was forced to sign an enlistment contract that he could not read before being sent to a military base near Rostov, near the Ukrainian border.
Another recruit told the publication that he was promised work in engineering and security, but ended up fighting for Russia in a forest in Ukraine.
The FT estimated that hundreds of Yemenis men are fighting for Russia.
Analysts believe this latest development with the Houthis is a sign of the growing cooperation between Russia and the Iran-backed military group.
“It makes a lot of sense for the Houthis because Russia has been known to provide them with intelligence on Israeli targets,” Bashir Abbas, a fellow at the Stimson Center, told BI. “So there is very clearly an avenue of cooperation between the two.”
The full extent of Russian cooperation with the Houthis is unclear. However, last week, a US State Department official told BI that Putin is engaging with the Iran-backed rebels at a “serious level.”
Tim Lenderking, US Special Envoy to Yemen, told the FT that Russia is actively discussing weapons transfers with the Houthis, who have been targeting ships in the Red Sea for more than a year.
“The kinds of weapons that are being discussed are very alarming, and would enable the Houthis to better target ships in the Red Sea and possibly beyond,” said Lenderking.
Abbas said that it’s further proof that Iran is actively helping Russia in the war in Ukraine. “It’s almost a symbiotic relationship, especially when Russia is fighting an active war in Europe, draining its coffers every single day,” he said.
This isn’t the first report of men being coerced to fight in Ukraine. In March, The Guardian reported that countless Indian and Nepalese men have been duped into joining Russia in its fight against Ukraine.
Indian and Nepalese men told the publication that they had been pressured into signing military contracts written in Russian and that they couldn’t leave because their passports had been taken.
North Korea has also sent thousands of soldiers to Russia to fight against Ukraine. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank said last week that the influx of fresh troops gives Putin a way to, at least temporarily, avoid a second involuntary mobilization.
Spokespeople for the Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request by BI for comment.
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