military
Fake recruitment letters for Ukrainian army in Germany
Ukrainian soldiers in and on a captured Russian tank on the front line in the Donetsk region (symbol image). photo
© Libkos/AP/dpa
According to Kiev, letters of recruitment for the international legion made up in Germany are being sent to Ukraine. Alleged sender: the Ukrainian consulate general in Düsseldorf.
According to information from Kiev, false recruitment letters for the international legion in Ukraine, which consists of foreigners, are in circulation in Germany.
“The Ukrainian consulate has not sent any such letters,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said on Facebook. Rather, the letters are part of a disinformation campaign against Ukraine. In Germany, recruiting citizens for service in a foreign army is punishable by up to five years in prison. The police were informed of the incidents. “The state security is investigating the matter,” said a spokesman for the Düsseldorf police on Friday when asked by the dpa.
The diplomat presented the scan of a letter to a man in Kamp-Lintfort. The Consulate General of Ukraine in Düsseldorf is listed as the alleged sender. The letter offers 5,000 euros a month for service in the legion and, in the event of death, another 100,000 euros for the bereaved. Officially, however, the soldiers deployed on the front line in Ukraine only get the equivalent of around 2,400 euros. Soldiers recruited from abroad are treated on an equal footing with Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukraine has been fighting since the end of February due to a Russian invasion. The so-called International Legion was founded by President Volodymyr Zelenskyj after the beginning of the war. Several thousand foreigners are said to be fighting in it.