“This is not your war”Kiev’s ambassador warns South Africans about Moscow’s recruitment
The shortage of personnel in the Russian army was so great that mercenaries had to be recruited from all over the world. South African men are said to have been lured to the front lines by false promises, the Kiev ambassador reported.
Ukraine’s ambassador to South Africa, Oleksandr Shcherba, has warned against recruiting South African mercenaries. “Please don’t be fooled,” Shcherba appealed to South Africans in an interview with the AFP news agency in Pretoria. “Do not allow yourself to be drawn into this barbaric, unjust and unjust war,” he warned. “This is not your war.”
Shcherba was responding to reports that South Africans were being recruited by Moscow as soldiers in the war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s ambassador said he had received emails from family members of people persuaded to join the front line, adding: “They are desperate.”
The South African government said last week that it had received “urgent calls” from people stranded in Ukraine’s contested Donbass region, asking to be repatriated. The South African Presidency said the men, aged between 20 and 39, were “persuaded” to join the mercenaries “under the pretext of lucrative work contracts”. It was not stated which side they were opposing.
Recruits from 36 African countries
But according to local television station News24 and the Ukrainian government, they are fighting on Russia’s side. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said last week that at least 1,436 citizens from 36 African countries had been identified in the ranks of Russian troops.
President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered an investigation into the alleged recruitment after News24 reported that the men had been sent to Russia for security training by his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s MK party. The former South African head of state is known to be close to Moscow. If it turns out South African politicians are involved, Shtscherba said, it would “make the situation even more dangerous.”
