Manipulation Since early March, Russian leaders, including Defense Minister Shoigu and President Putin, have repeatedly stated that at least 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East have signed up to participate in the liberation movement in the Donbass against Ukraine.
Putin especially stressed that they were not doing it for money. The BBC Arabic Service found out that Russia has deployed 14 recruitment centers in Syria to send Syrians to the Donbass. Eighty percent of them go to Ukraine to feed their families: All of those who agreed to tell journalists about themselves said they were going to their deaths, but saw no other way to feed their families in the war-torn country. Many of them have no combat experience, and none of them go to Ukraine "for the sake of the idea" - only for money, meaning they are mercenaries, not volunteers. The groups that recruit mercenaries offer 1,500 euros per month (other publications say $300 per month). Even earlier it became known that Syrian generals sabotaged the sending of regular units of their army to Ukraine, although representatives of the Russian army insist on it.