Putin supports the idea that “volunteers” participate in Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin – -/Kremlin/dpa

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Moscow stresses that 16,000 “volunteers” from Middle Eastern countries have shown their willingness to join the war

MADRID, 11 (EUROPE PRESS)

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has expressed this Friday his support for the idea that “volunteers” participate in the invasion of Ukraine, after which the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, has said that 16,000 “volunteers” from countries of The Middle East have shown their willingness to join the Russian military offensive.

“If there are people who want, on a voluntary basis and especially not in exchange for money, to come and help people living in Donbas, you have to meet them halfway and help them get to the war zone,” he said. Putin sustained during a meeting of the Russian Security Council.

Thus, he has argued that Western countries “have not hidden” the sending of “mercenaries” to Ukraine to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “The Western sponsors of Ukraine and the Ukrainian regime do not hide it. They do it openly, ignoring all the norms of International Law,” she denounced.

Shoigu detailed during the meeting that the Defense Ministry “has received a huge number of requests from various types of volunteers from different countries who would like to go to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to participate in what they consider to be a liberation movement. “.

“The largest number is from countries in the Middle East, with more than 16,000 requests,” he said, before adding that “many” of them have participated in the fight against Islamic State, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. In recent days, information has emerged about a possible transfer of militiamen from Syria to collaborate in the war effort in Ukraine.

In this way, Shoigu has emphasized that the Russian authorities “consider it appropriate to respond positively to these requests, especially since they are not doing it for money, but out of a true desire to help these people”, thus disassociating these “volunteers “of possible mercenaries.

For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov has said that these “volunteers” would not include Russian citizens. Thus, he has stressed that Shoigu “spoke mainly of people who have submitted applications from the Middle East, from Syria” and added that “compatriots have not been spoken of.”

“In general, there is a flow of volunteers. There are a large number of paid mercenaries who have come to Ukraine to participate in hostilities against our army,” he said. “At the same time, requests have been received from volunteers who want to participate in what they consider to be a national liberation struggle,” she argued.

“That’s what we’re talking about,” Peskov said. “If the Western world applauds the arrival of these various mercenaries from all over the world, there are also volunteers on this side. There are volunteers who want to participate in this,” he concluded, according to the Interfax agency.

TRANSFER OF ARMS FROM UKRAINE

On the other hand, Putin has supported Shoigu’s initiative for the transfer to Donetsk and Lugansk of Western-made weapons captured by Russian forces during the offensive in Ukraine. “Of course, I support the possibility of transferring them to military units of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” he said.

“Please do it,” he asked Shoigu, who specified that these weapons, derived from “absolutely uncontrolled deliveries” by Western countries, include battle tanks, armored vehicles, light weapons, artillery and missile systems. Javelin’ and ‘Stinger’, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.

In another order of things, the Russian president has ordered Shoigu to prepare a report for the strengthening of the country’s western border in the face of the increase in NATO troops in the area. Shoigu has stressed that the plan he is preparing includes “the new and complex movements of military units to protect the Western border.”

Putin has emphasized the need to “strengthen the western border” in the face of “the actions of the NATO countries in this direction and in response to what they have been doing.” “This requires separate consideration. I ask you to prepare a separate report and, based on the results of your discussion, I will make the appropriate decisions in the near future,” Putin concluded.

Lastly, Shoigu has stressed that “every day new military units arrive” by NATO in areas near the border with Russia, although he has argued that “this happens despite the fact that they are not being threatened by anyone at all” . “They want to saturate our border area to the maximum with forces, means and consolidate it for the long term,” she added.