Scoop – Thousands of Iraqis willing to enlist in Russian Army
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Russia’s Ambassador to Iraq, Elbrus Kutrashev, revealed that thousands of Iraqis are ready to join the Russian army if given the opportunity.
In an exclusive interview with Shafaq News to be published later, Kutrashev dismissed as “highly exaggerated” reports about “hundreds or thousands of foreign fighters” serving alongside Russian forces, noting that the number of Russian soldiers on the front lines is around 600,000. He described the conflict as “a people’s war,” fought mainly by Russians from across the country.
The ambassador confirmed that only a few Iraqis had joined the Russian army, citing one case of an Iraqi who met the former military attaché at the Russian Embassy while returning home to settle personal matters before heading back to the front.
“The embassy in Baghdad granted visas to the relatives of two Iraqi nationals who were killed in the war — the only officially documented cases handled by the mission.”
Kutrashev said that at the start of the war, the embassy received dozens of applications from Iraqis seeking to enlist in the Russian army. However, it declined them due to the absence of a system allowing the recruitment of foreigners at that time.
“Russia introduced a limited and complex mechanism requiring the candidate to be nominated by an authorized body and approved by the Ministry of Defense — a process that makes joining the army almost impossible for foreigners,” he explained.
Russia, according to Kutrashev, does not need foreign fighters because its military system “offers sufficient incentives for Russian volunteers,” including high salaries, compensations, and social benefits. “If the door were truly open, thousands of Iraqis would go…but Russia relies on its own citizens.”
However, Iraq’s embassy in Moscow has repeatedly warned citizens against “attempts to entrap young Iraqis in participation” in the Russia–Ukraine war, reaffirming Baghdad’s neutrality in the conflict. The embassy said it does not issue any entry visas related to such recruitment efforts and urged Iraqis to remain cautious about deceptive offers.
While Kutrashev described the participation of Iraqis as rare, Iraqi authorities have confirmed that recruitment networks exist. In September, a Najaf court sentenced a man to life in prison for human trafficking after convicting him of organizing groups that sent Iraqis to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, under Iraq’s Anti-Human Trafficking Law.
A previous Shafaq News investigation revealed that more than 5,000 Iraqis have been drawn into the Russia–Ukraine war since 2022 through deceptive travel and employment schemes promising jobs or European migration. Many of those who reached Russia were later coerced into signing military contracts offering monthly salaries.
Read more: The Desperate and the Damned: Why thousands of Iraqis are fighting in Ukraine
According to media outlets, recruitment efforts began in 2023 when the Russian paramilitary group Wagner started enlisting foreign fighters. Local intermediaries appeared in Baghdad, Basra, and Najaf, offering young Iraqis contracts with monthly salaries of up to $3,000, along with promises of Russian citizenship or residency for them and their families.
Kutrashev, in contrast, emphasized that Russia’s armed forces are composed of its own nationals. “The war is popular in nature,” he said, “and it is the Russians themselves who are fighting from different regions of our country.”
By comparison, he claimed that the Ukrainian army includes “large numbers of foreigners,” among them officers and experts from NATO member states, some of whom have been killed or captured in combat.
Inside Iraq, the issue has drawn official attention. Parliament’s Foreign Relations and Security and Defense Committees have launched inquiries into reports of citizens joining both sides of the war, citing constitutional prohibitions on mercenary activity. Lawmakers have urged the Foreign Ministry and the Iraqi Embassy in Moscow to monitor such cases closely.
Analysts say high unemployment and migration pressures have made young Iraqis particularly vulnerable to exploitation abroad. Many who initially sought tourism or work opportunities in Russia ended up on the frontlines of a war they never intended to join.
Earlier this year, Russia’s RT Channel aired a video praising the “bravery” of Iraqi-born soldier Mohammed Uday al-Abadi, describing him as a Russian of Iraqi descent from Wasit province, aged 24.
