Russian military is reportedly going to deploy Ethiopian ex-servicemen and other foreign mercenaries to frontline in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
According to Ukrainian Rubizh 4th Brigade, it has intercepted Russian military’s communication about deployment of mercenaries from Ethiopia and Morocco to frontline. In April 2022, hundreds of Ethiopian ex-servicemen were seen outside the Russian embassy in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. They offered their services to fight in support of Russia. However, Russian embassy in Addis Ababa and Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted reports that Russia embassy was recruiting Ethiopian ex-servicemen.
This week, Russian President called the Ethiopian Prime Minister. According to some sources, the call, among other issues, involved discussion about deployment of Ethiopian mercenaries in Russia-Ukraine war. Ethiopian mercenaries have been seen fighting in Sudanese civil war too. Rapid Support Force (RSF) chief Hamdan Dagalo last year accused Ethiopian Tigray People’s Liberation Front of deploying Tigray fighters to fight in support of Sudanese military.
It in unclear if the Ethiopian government is privately backing the deployment of its ex-servicemen to Russia Ukraine war or not. A source, monitoring this development, disclosed that each Ethiopian fighter in Russia will get around $2000 monthly salary.
