Russia replenishes losses by mobilizing migrant workers from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan - AFU’s General Staff 

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces informs about this.

Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the enemy is looking for additional sources of personnel. Thus, in November, the Russian leadership passed a number of laws that expand the list of citizens who can be called up.

"In particular, it is allowed to call up for military service the convicted citizens who are serving a sentence or have an unexpunged or unexpired criminal record. Except the citizens who have been convicted under a certain list of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, primarily convicted of treason, espionage, terrorism, etc. Instead, it is allowed to summon persons who have committed serious crimes," Hromov said.

Hromov says that in peacetime, persons with dual citizenship are allowed to serve in the Russian Federation.  In addition, there are about 6 million migrants in the country sponsoring terrorism, most of them from Uzbekistan (almost 50%) and Tajikistan (30%), as well as Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and other countries.

"These changes are primarily aimed at recruiting migrant workers residing on the territory of Russia into military service. Of the total number of migrants, about 2.7 million people, or almost 45%, are men of conscription age," Hromov explained.

The representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized that another wave of forced mobilization is currently underway in the temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk region.

 "Last week, the personnel of the units of the so-called National Guard searched for male persons in the settlement of Rovenki for their subsequent conscription into the ranks of the 2nd Army Corps of the Russian occupation forces. It is noteworthy that during this process, all exits and the entrances to the city were blocked," Hromov added.