Kremlin Deploys 20,000 Naturalised Migrants to Ukraine Front as Losses Mount

Russia has forcibly deployed more than 20,000 newly naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine, according to a senior Kremlin official, in what analysts describe as an intensifying reliance on vulnerable populations to sustain the war effort while avoiding mass mobilisation of the ethnic Russian majority.

The announcement came from Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, during a speech at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. He revealed that the conscripts were primarily migrants from Central Asia who had recently obtained Russian citizenship and were found to have failed in registering for military service—a legal requirement under Russian law.

“Already 20,000 ‘new’ Russian citizens, who for some reason don’t like living in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan, are now on the front lines,” he said, with evident disdain.

He did not clarify whether these individuals had been coerced or volunteered to fight.

The deployment marks an escalation of a longstanding Kremlin policy of drawing from socially and politically marginalised groups to supply manpower for the war in Ukraine. From the earliest months of the full-scale invasion, Russian authorities have recruited disproportionately from remote and impoverished regions such as Buryatia and Dagestan, as well as from penal colonies. These communities, observers note, are less likely to resist mobilisation and pose minimal political risk to the regime.

The naturalised migrants now being sent to Ukraine appear to represent an expansion of this approach. Many are believed to have sought Russian citizenship for work or residency purposes, rather than as an expression of allegiance to the state. Human rights organisations have reported cases of targeted raids on migrant-populated areas, with law enforcement officials issuing draft notices during document checks.

Legal experts argue that such forced recruitment practices, particularly under threat of prosecution or loss of citizenship, may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.

“The Kremlin is leaning ever harder on those with the least capacity to object,” one European diplomat said. “Russia’s manpower strategy is not only shaped by battlefield needs—it is calibrated to maintain political stability at home.”

Despite significant casualties, the Russian dictator has so far avoided declaring a second wave of mass mobilisation, mindful of the social unrest it triggered in late 2022. By conscripting newly naturalised migrants, the government appears to be reinforcing its military without sparking the same level of public resistance.

The policy also aligns with Russia’s increasingly transactional approach to citizenship. While the offer of a Russian passport has long been used as a tool of soft power and integration, it now comes with expectations of military service—particularly for those deemed less politically consequential.

For Putin’s regime, the war in Ukraine has become a test of endurance. But as losses accumulate and recruitment pools thin, the human cost of that endurance is falling most heavily on those whose voices are least likely to be heard.

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