Russian Defence Ministry says Romania among countries sending most mercenaries to Ukraine

The Russian Defence Ministry claims that Romania is among the countries sending the most mercenaries to Ukraine, according to the Russian state agency TASS.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that Kyiv had reportedly hired more than 6,800 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries since the start of Russia’s „special operation” in Ukraine.

„The nationalist regime in Kyiv has hired a total of 6,824 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries since the start of the special military operation,” Konașenkov claims.

„Most mercenaries – 1,717 people – came from Poland, and about 1,500 from the US, Canada, and Romania, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said,” TASS writes, paraphrasing the Russian official.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claims that up to 300 people may have arrived from Britain and Georgia, and 190 people may have come from parts of Syria that are controlled by Turkey.

Background

Earlier, RIA Novosti, the Russian news agency that spreads Kremlin propaganda, wrote that „a secret NATO monitoring group, which includes Romanian employees”, had begun its work in Odessa. RIA Novosti quoted a source in the Russian security forces, who in turn quoted „informers from Ukrainian troops”.

In response, North Star Support Group (NSSG) – one of the global leaders in consulting and risk management services for private companies conducting business operations in the world’s most difficult regions – announced that the information reported by RIA Novosti that Romanian employees of the company are involved in operations in Odessa is completely false.

„NSSG currently has no employees in the city of Odesa in Ukraine and is not carrying out any activities in this area. Moreover, NSSG is not a PMC – Private Military Company – and has no military involvement in theatres of conflict, including the war in Ukraine,” the company’s official statement reads.

The RIA Novosti article noted that NATO equipment detects the exact coordinates of any ship in the Black Sea within a radius of up to 200 kilometers.

„NATO instructors may be hiding in Mariupol, State Duma believes. According to them, the group’s task is to prevent the landing of Russian troops and give the location of Russian ships to target Ukrainian Neptune missiles. Last week, the Russian military destroyed a collection and training center for foreign mercenaries near the village of Krasnoselka, near Odesa – according to the Defence Ministry, it was hit with high-precision Bastion missiles. Since 24 February, Russia has been conducting a military operation to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its objective „the protection of people who have been subjected to intimidation and genocide by the regime in Kyiv for eight years”. Russian armed forces are striking only at Ukrainian military infrastructure and troops. They have already accomplished the main tasks of the first stage – they have significantly reduced Ukraine’s combat potential. The Ministry of Defence has named the liberation of Donbas the main goal of the operation,” the Russian propaganda article says.

Edited for English by Ovidiu H.