Russia Recruits Syrian Fighters for Ukrainian Conflict // FAI ONLINE

12 March 2022 — According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin is weighing the formation of a foreign legion to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, including over 16,000 Syrian fighters. Peskov’s remarks came yesterday after a senior cabinet meeting which included Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, considered Putin’s closest advisor and successor. Shoigu informed Putin that his ministry had “received a huge number of applications” from foreigners, adding that “the majority of requests came from the Middle East…as we have received over 16,000 of them."

So far it is unclear whether Putin has approved the deployment of foreign, irregular forces into Ukraine, although many analysts believe that the prospect is becoming increasingly likely, as the advance of Russian regular forces continues to grind down around major population centers, such as Mariupol and Kyiv. President Putin has also pointed to the growth of foreign axillaries in Ukraine’s ranks as justification for the formation of his own foreign volunteer force.

Shoigu and Putin framed the surge in applicants as a grassroots movement of those who seek to “participate in what they consider to be a liberation movement” and which is “especially not for money.” However, Syrian watchdog agencies with vast networks of local sources have reported activity by the Wagner Group, Russia’s quasi-state run mercenary organization, to recruit from amongst Christian and Muslim militias that are loyal to the Syrian regime, offering $200 or $300 US dollars for six months of service in Ukraine as “security guards.” Loyalist and Iranian-aligned militias have worked alongside the Wagner Group and Russian forces in Syria and Libya for almost a decade.

Syrian militia are especially attractive to Russia as a source of fighters for Ukraine, both because of their decade-long, battle-hardened experience in urban warfare, and because of the desperate condition of the Syrian economy. One expert predicted that Russia may be able to recruit more than 50,000 Syrian fighters to fight in Ukraine for minimal pay and the assurance of resettlement in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern region.

We ask the Maranatha global family to join us in prayer on behalf of the people of Ukraine, Russia and Syria. We pray that Ukrainian forces would hold fast against an intensifying Russian invasion. We pray that God would minimize causalities on both sides of the conflict, and that the conflict would not spread past the borders of Ukraine. Most importantly, as always, we pray that the Lord of the harvest would work through the chaos and upheaval of war to sow the seeds of Good News in Ukraine, Russia, and beyond.

Maranatha!