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Russia plans to welcome as many as 16,000 volunteers, mostly from the Middle East, to fight alongside its military in Ukraine, Moscow said on Friday.
This would include thousands of Syrian veteran volunteers who wanted to join the war, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday, a plan with the backing of President Vladimir Putin.
The comments come days after US officials told The Wall Street Journal that Russia was recruiting fighters from Syria, where it has a sizeable military presence to bolster the forces backing President Bashar Al Assad.
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A Pleiades Satellite image from September 20, 2015, shows Russian fighter jets and helicopters at a military base in the government-controlled coastal Syrian city of Latakia. Syria said on September 22, 2015 it had received sophisticated new arms from Russia, including warplanes, and used them against rebels, as signs grew of a major shift in the country's four-year conflict. AFP -
Deserted streets and damaged buildings in the central Syrian town of Talbisseh in Homs province, September 30, 2015. Russia confirmed on September 30 that it carried out its first air strike in Syria, near the city of Homs, marking the formal start of Moscow's military intervention. AFP -
A video grab from October 1, 2015 shows an image taken from the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an air strike in Syria. President Vladimir Putin on October 1 dismissed claims that Russian air strikes had killed civilians in Syria as 'information warfare' but said Moscow would look into those reports. AFP -
A Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber takes off from the Hmeimim airbase in the Syrian province of Latakia, October 3, 2015. AFP -
A Russian pilot leaving his Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft at Hmeimim airbase in the Syrian province of Latakia. AFP -
Members of the Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars outside the Russian embassy in the capital Beirut during a protest on October 14, 2015 against Russia's intervention in Syria . AFP -
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al Assad upon the latter's for a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 20, 2015. AFP -
Russia deployed its S-400 air defence system in Syria, the Russian defence ministry said on November 26, 2015, with the units covering the area around its airbase in coastal Latakia. AFP -
About 30,000 Syrians were at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on February 8, 2016, as his country faced pressure to open its border. AFP -
Russian soldiers on guard as a Russian military convoy passes through a small Syrian village near the city of Hama on May 4, 2016. AFP -
Fires after air strikes on the besieged rebel-held town of Daraya, near the capital Damascus, on August 16, 2016. AFP -
A member of the White Helmets, a Syrian civil defence volunteer unit, on the rubble of destroyed buildings during a rescue operation in Aleppo after a government forces air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan Al Basha, on October 4, 2016. AFP -
Syrian government troops on guard as a bus drives by with people from the evacuated town of Daraya outside the capital Damascus on August 26, 2016. The move was part of a deal agreed between the government and opposition fighters after a four-year army siege. AFP -
Members of the UN Security Council meet on December 31, 2016, at the UN headquarters in New York, after unanimously approving a resolution supporting a Russian-Turkish peace initiative for Syria. AFP
Footage shared by Russia’s Defence Ministry showed dozens of men in camouflage, hoisting Kalashnikov assault rifles and pro-Russian banners who it said were Syria veterans eager to join the Ukraine conflict.
Moscow's troops are edging closer to the capital Kyiv, two weeks after Mr Putin announced a "special military operation" in Russia's pro-western neighbour.
It is unclear if the volunteers would be integrated into the regular Russian military, if Moscow will establish brigades or if those signing up will join Ukrainian separatist forces that are fighting alongside Russia.
"If you see that there are people who want on a voluntary basis [to help east Ukraine's separatists], then you need to meet them halfway and help them move to combat zones," the president told Mr Shoigu during a televised security council meeting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Defence Ministry had "talked in particular about those who sent their requests from the Middle East countries and from Syria".
"There was no talk about our fellow citizens [volunteering],” he said.
On the opposing side, tens of thousands of volunteers have signed up to join Ukrainian forces to push back the Russian invasion.
Mr Peskov said the decision to send volunteer fighters to Ukraine was within reason, claiming that the US was backing measures to send mercenaries to join Kyiv's army.
"If the West is so enthusiastic about the arrival of mercenaries, then we also have volunteers who want to participate," Mr Peskov said.
Russian mercenaries gave vital support to pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, observers say, when the Kremlin annexed the Crimean peninsula after street rallies ousted a Kremlin-friendly leader.
There are also sizeable numbers of Russian mercenaries alongside its military deployment since Syria 2015, when Moscow’s heavy air campaign decimated the opposition and turned the tide in favour of Assad.
Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine late last month, spurring an exodus of refugees to Europe and allegations of war crimes.
Members of Nato, the US-led military alliance that Ukraine seeks to join, have sharply increased weapons supplies to Ukraine, and are bolstering troop numbers near Russia.
Mr Putin on Friday asked Mr Shoigu to prepare plans for the possible fortification of Russia's western border "in response to actions taken by Nato countries".
Poland and the three Baltic states share a common border with Russia, while Ukraine borders Nato members Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
Mr Putin said any weapons seized during the fighting by Russian troops – particularly arms manufactured by the West – should be handed to rebels in eastern Ukraine, regions Moscow recognised as independent shortly before the invasion.
"I support the possibility of transferring them to the military units of the DNR and LNR," Mr Putin said of confiscated weapons, referring to the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic, respectively.
Ukraine's army had been fighting the rebels since 2014, before Russia's incursion, in fighting that has claimed 14,000 lives.
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A satellite image shows homes and buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, in February, before Russia's invasion. Maxar Technologies via Reuters -
A satellite image shows destroyed homes and buildings in Mariupol on March 9. Maxar Technologies via Reuters -
Grocery stores and shopping malls in Mariupol in February before Russia's invasion. Maxar Technologies via Reuters -
A satellite image shows destroyed grocery stores and shopping malls in Mariupol on March 9 amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Maxar Technologies via Reuters -
The Portcity shopping mall and other stores in Mariupol in February before the Russian invasion. Maxar Technologies via AP -
The heavily damaged Portcity shopping mall and other stores in Mariupol on March 9. Maxar Technologies via AP
