DISINFO: Russian special forces identified more than 4000 Ukrainian mercenaries
SUMMARY
Russian special forces meticulously collect information about Ukrainian mercenaries, more than 4000 have already been identified, and absentee investigations have been completed on a number of them.
Any militants, whether they are serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, nationalists, radicals, or foreign mercenaries, will be held accountable for their crimes. These people will be under constant scrutiny. Information about their crimes will be known around the world. It will be clear who not only Ukraine is dealing with, but also the PMCs that today serve as recruiting centres for Ukraine, either on Kyiv's orders or on the orders of its masters.
Foreign mercenaries are often psychopaths who have disdained the norms and principles of international humanitarian law, they are prone to violence, murder, bloodshed, abuse of civilians, and looting.
RESPONSE
This is a pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that foreigners fighting for Ukraine are mercenaries.
Foreign fighters in Ukraine are incorporated into the Ukrainian forces and are not classified as mercenaries or members of Private Military Contractors. This practice is common in various armies. Ukraine has called on experienced foreign nationals to join its foreign legion, whose members are regular soldiers of the Ukrainian military.
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. However, the incorporated unit must be a professional fighting force, fulfilling the criteria spelled out in Article 4A(2) of Geneva Convention 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."
Mercenaries, on the other hand, participate in armed conflicts illegally and can be held criminally liable for participating in hostilities. Mercenaries, according to international law, are not citizens or official military personnel of a belligerent state.
There are no such mercenaries in Ukraine - foreign voluntary units are part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. While Russia has repeatedly attracted both absolutely illegal private military companies like the Wagner group and illegal mercenaries from Syria for the war against Ukraine.
See related cases: Significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine's side; Nazi mercenaries from Europe fighting in Ukraine; over 2,500 foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine; over 11,000 foreign mercenaries fought on Ukraine's side since February 2022; 60 French mercenaries lost their lives in Kharkiv; Ukrainian army admits mercenaries from 50 countries fight on Kyiv's side.