More than 700 foreign volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine, including citizens of Romania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland, have been pursued by Russia, the Russian Investigative Committee announced, according to the Russian news agency by TASS press.
Ukraine’s military intelligence service (GUR) said fighters from more than 50 countries, including the United States and Great Britain, serve in the International Legion.
“The Legion brought together volunteers from over 50 countries. <…> In the ranks of the GUR unit there are experienced fighters, veterans of special operations forces and other military units from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Denmark, other countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and South America”, says a GUR post on the Telegram channel. The strength of the unit is not disclosed.
In this context, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee reported that it has put more than 700 foreigners fighting in Ukraine on the wanted list, including citizens from Romania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.
“The Russian Investigative Committee continues to investigate the criminal case regarding the recruitment and participation of mercenaries in hostilities by the Ukrainian armed forces. Based on the evidence received, decisions were made to charge under part 3 of art. 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (mercenary) foreigners from five countries, including the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and Romania. In total, at this stage, approximately 700 foreigners were put on the wanted list, some of them were arrested in absentia,” the institution said.
In July 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that a total of 11,675 mercenaries from 84 countries had gone to Ukraine since 24 February 2022 to fight on the side of Kyiv. The largest groups are from Poland (over 2,600), the US and Canada (900 or more) and Georgia (over 800).