DISINFO: Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are not protected by the Geneva convention
SUMMARY
Foreign mercenaries in the Kyiv regime's forces are not subject to the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that foreigners fighting for Ukraine are mercenaries and should not be protected under the Geneva Conventions.
Ukraine called on experienced foreign nationals to join its foreign legion, whose members are regular soldiers of the Ukrainian army and not mercenaries.
As for the Geneva conventions protection on POW, as Ilya Nuzov summarises it on the blog of the European Journal of International Law, the nationality of the soldier is not an issue:
"Combatants are members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict or volunteers corps incorporated therein. According to the ICRC Commentary to Article 4, the requirement for membership in the armed forces, or the incorporation of the volunteer corps, is a matter of domestic regulation. But the incorporated unit must be a professional fighting force, fulfilling the criteria spelled out in Article 4A(2) of GC III, and be subordinate to the regular army command. The fact that an individual is a national of a third State and not a national of the armed forces in which they are serving is widely considered to be irrelevant when it comes to determining combatant or POW status."
Other countries also offer foreigners the opportunity to join the foreign legion without being mercenaries, as in the case of the French Légion étrangère.
Reuters listed some unclear legal issues in some countries, but the practice is usually legal, as La libre Belgique or Le Figaro explain.
See similar cases that foreigners who join the Ukrainian army are criminals and Russia is not supposed to comply with Geneva convention, that foreigners from terrorist organisations are fighting for Ukraine, that Nazi mercenaries from Europe fight in Ukraine, and that over 2,500 foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.