DISINFO: France allows own citizens to fight as mercenaries in Ukraine despite it being a crime
SUMMARY
The French authorities are denying the fact that its citizens are fighting as mercenaries in Ukraine, instead calling them "volunteers." This is because mercenary activity is a crime under French law, so the very admission that French citizens can easily go to Ukraine as mercenaries would be problematic for Paris.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that foreigners fighting for Ukraine are mercenaries.
Ukraine has called on experienced foreign nationals to join its foreign legion, whose members are regular soldiers of the Ukrainian army as opposed to mercenaries.
In France, the distinction between mercenary activity and lawful service in a foreign military force is made clear under Article 436 of the French Penal Code, which defines a mercenary as:
"[A]ny person who has been specially recruited to participate in an armed conflict, and who is neither a citizen of a State involved in the aforesaid conflict, nor a member of the armed forces of the State, and has not been sent on a mission by another State not involved in the conflict as a member of the armed forces of this State, to directly participate or to attempt to directly participate in the hostilities, with a view to obtaining personal advantage or remuneration considerably in excess of what is paid or promised to the combatants of the same rank and with the same duties in the armed forces fighting on the same side."
As pointed out by experts, 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."
Read similar claims here.