Over 40 foreign mercenaries killed in Donbass: Russia Defense Ministry
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The Russian Prosecutor General says the spread of mercenaries and weapons from Ukraine is an extremely dangerous threat to the Commonwealth of Independent States.
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Foreign mercenaries heading to Ukraine (Archive)
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed Tuesday that the Russian military has attacked a place of deployment of "the Foreign Legion" in Donbass and killed over 40 militants.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry indicated that "over 40 foreign mercenaries, mostly Poles, were killed by a strike of high-precision air-launched missiles at the temporary deployment point of the Foreign Legion units near the Konstantinovka village of the Donetsk People’s Republic."
In a similar context, Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov underlined that the spread of mercenaries and weapons from Ukraine is an extremely dangerous threat to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
At a meeting with the Prosecutor General of Tajikistan, Yusuf Rahmon, in Dushanbe, Krasnov warned that "today, our countries are facing new, extremely dangerous threats. Among them: the participation of citizens of the CIS states in hostilities as mercenaries, the distribution of weapons, ammunition, drugs."
Read more: US arms supplies to Kiev may end up in shadow markets of other countries
According to Krasnov, CIS countries and law enforcement agencies need to update their interaction schemes to improve work efficiency in order to eliminate these threats.
In early July Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that tens of foreign mercenaries have been killed in Ukraine.
Shoigu said that as a "result of the successful offensive" by both the Russian and Donbass republics' forces, “the number of foreign mercenaries and employees of private military companies operating in the country has decreased.”
The Defense Minister previously said the arms supplied by the West to Ukraine were ending up on the black market and spreading across West Asia.
Similarly, Russian Military Spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov last month said that hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine have been killed by Russian long-range precision weapons “shortly after their arrival at the places where they were undergoing additional training and where the tactical units were coordinated.”
It is noteworthy that the Russian Defense Ministry data revealed that 6,956 foreign citizens from 64 countries arrived in Ukraine to fight alongside Ukrainian troops between February 24 and June 17.
Around 1,956 of those have been killed, while 1,779 have left the country, the Ministry highlighted.
Read more: Experts warn arms for Ukraine could have disastrous consequences
