Yemeni mercenaries in Ukraine claim to the newspaper that they were promised Russian citizenship and high salaries for jobs in security and industry in Russia. The recruitment was allegedly made with the help of a company with ties to the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.
Once they arrived in Russia, they were allegedly forced at gunpoint to sign contracts, in Russian, for enlistment in the Russian army.
The Financial Times has obtained contracts signed by the Yemeni soldiers, who were then sent against their will to the front line in the Ukraine war. The contracts show that a company based in Oman, founded by Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri – a prominent Houthi politician – is a contracting party.
A source tells the newspaper that many of the Yemenis who were deployed to the front lines in Ukraine in September are now believed to be dead.
According to the Financial Times, there are also mercenaries from Nepal and India on the Russian side in the war against Ukraine, as well as around 12,000 soldiers from North Korea, who are to be used against Ukrainian forces in the Russian province of Kursk.
