Through Mordovia to Mordor: How Latin American and African mercenaries are recruited for Russia’s war against Ukraine

From El Salvador to Mordovia

In a previous investigation, The Insider reported on how officials from Russian regions are involved in recruiting mercenaries from the Middle East for service in the war in Ukraine. Under that scheme, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilitated the recruitment of contract soldiers from Syria and Yemen, while the formal «invitations» were issued by officials from the Bryansk region.

Under another arrangement, recruits are enlisted through the Telegram channel Friend of Russia. Judging by one of its latest posts, mercenaries cost the state less than volunteers from some Russian regions — 810,000 rubles ($10,500) up front and 300,000 rubles ($3,900) per month, while Muscovites who join the military can receive payments of up to 3 million rubles ($39,000). However, for countries such as El Salvador or Côte d’Ivoire, where average monthly earnings are in the low hundreds of dollars, the money on offer from the Kremlin can be enticing. In addition, after six months, the foreign fighter is promised Russian citizenship (provided that he survives).

A candidate who is interested sends the administrators of the Telegram channel scans of personal documents and written consent stating that he is prepared to take part in the «special military operation.» After that, the head of the recruitment center in Saransk submits a visa request to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Entry permission is issued within a month, after which the future mercenary flies to Moscow. According to posts on the recruiters’ Telegram channel, the travel expenses are fully covered by the recruiters.

In the capital, the candidate is met by Pavel Uglyansky, CEO of Contract LLC. His task is to arrange transfers from Moscow’s airports to the recruitment center in Mordovia. The signing of contracts in Saransk is overseen by a Russian Defense Ministry official, Captain Viktor Valentsov.

Within just a few days, the mercenaries find themselves in one of the units fighting in Ukraine. The Insider can confirm that in 2024 mercenaries were sent to at least four military units: 91704/12721, in Zaimishche village, Klintsy; the 1099th motorized rifle regiment, in Rostov; the 673rd Airborne Forces in Ryazan; and
military unit 11099.

Under this scheme, according to documents in The Insider’s possession, hundreds of mercenaries from Colombia, El Salvador, and Côte d’Ivoire passed through Mordovia.

From Navalny to pro-war patriotism

Polina Azarnykh played an active role in recruiting foreigners through the Bryansk region. A Russian national, Azarnykh appears in the database of the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets as a recruiter of Arab mercenaries. The invitations required for visas were sent to email addresses linked to her.

As The Insider has found, Azarnykh is also a key figure in the scheme that sends mercenaries through Mordovia. A teacher by training, she was registered as an individual entrepreneur from 2011 to 2013 (according to Russia’s Unified State Register of Legal Entities) and has also been engaged in the wholesale fruit and vegetable trade. In the past, she appears to have held opposition views, registering at one point with Alexey Navalny’s “Smart Voting” project. However, after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, everything changed: instead of selling tomatoes, the entrepreneur began supplying mercenaries to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Azarnykh’s ties to the military go beyond business contacts. Her social media accounts show that she is in a close relationship with a Russian serviceman. Although the photographs are partially obscured using emojis, The Insider established that he is junior officer Denis Rozhko, deputy commander of a motorized rifle battalion in the 200th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Northern Fleet. Tactical units of the 200th Brigade have been involved in the occupation and seizure of Ukrainian territory since 2014. Rozhko, like Azarnykh, is listed in the “Myrotvorets” database and has been wanted in Ukraine for desertion since 2014. Before the occupation of Crimea, he served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Sevastopol.

Rozhko also appears to be involved in the recruitment scheme. In December 2025, a bot named rusadyk_bot appeared on the recruiters’ Telegram channel. It is the same name used by Rozhko’s personal Telegram account.

No escape

Polina Azarnykh not only oversees recruitment at the initial stage but also ensures that no potential candidate flees while en route to the front. The Insider can report that she sent emails to officers of the FSB border units at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports stating that certain foreign nationals who had not yet completed their service were planning to escape to Europe.

In such cases, the security services in the candidate’s home country are notified of the fact of their mercenary activity, and in most of the places they seek to return to, their actions constitute a criminal offence. As a result, those who agreed to fight for Russia have no good options: either die in a human wave assault in Ukraine, or serve a prison sentence at home.

A new route for Syrians

Syrian mercenaries, as The Insider detailed in previous investigations, are still in demand by the Defense Ministry. In December 2025, channels linked to Azarnykh published a notice announcing the resumption of recruitment of Syrian citizens for participation in the «special military operation.» Judging by her posts, such recruitments had been suspended for some time before certificates for new recruitment websites were created in November 2025.

Unlike participants in the “Mordovian scheme,” Syrians are promised substantial payments: 3 million rubles ($3,900) up front and 5.5 million rubles ($71,000) over the course of their year of service. This is likely because recruitment in this case is overseen by the wealthier Moscow region. “All payments are personally guaranteed by Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov,” according to a report on a Moscow Region news website.

The mercenaries are to be delivered to the Vityaz Special Training Center in the Balashikha district of the Moscow region. There, their preparation for deployment to the front is overseen by Colonel Sergei Lysyuk.

In December 2024, a revolution took place in Syria saw rebels overthrow Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad, and the change of power appears to have affected Russia’s recruitment efforts in the country. The resumption of recruitment suggests that the new authorities have chosen not to obstruct Russia’s activities — or, at a minimum, are turning a blind eye to them.