Yesterday, 11/3, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the leadership of the Russian Armed Forces to facilitate the deployment of “volunteer” fighters to Ukraine in response to, what he calls, the deployment of  “mercenaries” from the West.

“If you see that there are people who want to go there voluntarily and they do not do it for the money, but to help those living in Donbas (in eastern Ukraine), then we should give them what they want and help them go in the fighting zone,” said Vladimir Putin, responding to a proposal from Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Such an action, the Russian President continued, is justified by the fact that the Western contractors of the Ukrainian regime do not even hide and openly gather mercenaries from all over the world to send them to the Ukrainian front.

Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that there were about 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East ready to go to war with Russian-backed forces in the separatist region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has been accused of years of using and deploying mercenaries, such as the Wagner group, in conflict zones to serve its foreign policy goals. The country is also accused of organizing and supporting the pro-Russian separatist insurgency in Donbas this way, in eastern Ukraine, in 2014.

With information from: AMNA

Also read: Ukrainian Crisis | Kyiv prepares for “full-scale attack”