September 1, 2026 | 03:48 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad drew attention to a Ukrainian intelligence report stating that 8 individuals suspected of being Indonesian citizens signed up to become Russian mercenaries.
Dasco said he received intelligence indicating that a third country recruited Indonesian soldiers. The third country then presented the recruitment as vacancies for security units or administrative personnel, enticing candidates with high salaries.
"Subsequently, these Indonesian citizens registered and eventually were deployed as soldiers," said Dasco at the Indonesian Parliament complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
Dasco stated that Indonesian intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have coordinated and dispatched representatives to these countries.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (FISU) released a list of Indonesian citizens suspected of being mercenaries in Russia. In a statement released on August 27, the FISU indicated that they discovered the recruitment of the eight Indonesians after obtaining copies of communication from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the Indonesians' visa processing.
FISU mentioned that the scheme used to recruit foreign nationals has been employed by Russia and has been tested in dozens of other countries. "The lure of high salaries, non-combat duties, rapid Russian citizenship, and attractive social benefits has drawn the interest of individuals who often don't know where they are actually being sent," FISU stated on its official website.
FISU mentioned that similar patterns have been deployed with citizens of Nepal, Cuba, Kenya, and India. Most of them ended up on the front lines without any military training, and some of them perished within the first few weeks.
Read: Are More Indonesians Joining the Russian Military?
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