AIJES-Paris

Yemen has been suffering from a civil war that has been ongoing for years, which has led to a significant deterioration in the economic and humanitarian situation, such that joining the fighting in Ukraine has become an opportunity to obtain money, even if temporarily, to meet basic needs, in addition to enticing many Yemenis with the promise of obtaining Russian citizenship, which represents a strong incentive to immigrate to Russia and join the fighting, as many of them were killed in the battles.

It is clear that as a result of years of fighting and confrontations, Russia has become in need of additional forces to fight in Ukraine, which prompts it to resort to recruiting foreign fighters, including Yemenis, in various ways and means, including announcing work contracts for guards and security work that has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.

Many Yemenis are also enticed by the promise of obtaining Russian citizenship, which represents a strong incentive to immigrate to Russia and join the fighting.

In a remarkable development, according to YemenOnline sources in Moscow, more than 250 Yemenis were transferred during the past weeks from Yemen to Muscat and from there to Moscow via the Yemeni Al-Jabri Company, which has a Russian coordinator in the Omani capital Muscat named Dmitry, according to Abu Fahd, one of the Yemenis who were deceived, as he says, under the pretext of working within civilian security guards that have nothing to do with the war and for large sums of money.

Abu Fahd (who requested not to disclose his name) says that when we arrived in Moscow, they were received by a Yemeni named Hani Al-Zariqi, and then they transferred us to a camp affiliated with the Wagner forces and then to another camp in the Russian city of Rostov, to finally find ourselves inside one of the Russian fighting fronts inside the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye.

Abu Fahd added that all Yemenis are currently being threatened and forced to fight by the Russian side because of their refusal to engage in any military action on the Russian-Ukrainian fighting fronts.

Abu Fahad said in his statement to the agency that the Russians want to use them as bait in their war against the Ukrainian forces, noting that dozens of Yemenis have been killed on the fronts and some of them have not even been identified, stressing his desire and those with him to return to Yemen, calling on the Yemeni government and the Presidential Council to intervene and save them before it is too late.

According to what was included in the contracts concluded, a copy of which was obtained by the YemenOnline, between the Yemenis  as a second party and the so-called Abdul Wali Abdo Hassan Al-Jabri as (Authorized Director) as the first party, the monthly salary for each person is 3,000 US dollars in exchange for providing suitable work according to the qualifications and experiences of the second party, in addition to a comprehensive power of attorney for the first party by the second party to follow up on everything related to him before all official and unofficial Russian bodies as an intermediary and exclusive representative.

According to Riyadh, another Yemeni participant in the group in Russia, since their arrival they have only received 200,000 rubles, equivalent to $2,000 per person, to cover their expenses and daily lives before being placed on the front lines in Ukraine!

Mutahar, one of the Yemeni participants, says that what actually happened was a kidnapping and forcing to fight under threat of arms, while the agreed contract did not mention that at all!

Mutahar added that the bodies of the Yemenis were lying on the ground and we could not even reach them!

According to other Yemeni sources, the Houthi leader Ali al-Hadi, the head of the Sana'a Chamber of Commerce appointed by the Houthis, is contributing to the process of recruiting many young Yemenis into the Russian forces through his multiple visits to Moscow under commercial pretexts to buy wheat for his company (Al-Mohsen Wheat), which is headquartered in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.

The Secretary-General of the National Center for Human Rights in Yemen, Mohammed Jamal, said that the forced recruitment of Yemeni youth is a flagrant violation of human rights, as they are deceived and exploited for political and military purposes, warning against the intensive propaganda through various means of communication with the aim of attracting Yemeni youth to fight in Ukraine, as social media and other platforms are used to spread false and exaggerated information about the nature of the work and the chances of success.

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