#7
BBC Monitoring
US embassy said recruiting Russian volunteers to fight
in Afghanistan
Source: NTV, Moscow, in Russian 1600 gmt 8 Nov 01
[Presenter] Let us begin with events around Afghanistan. Troops of the Northern Coalition which may take part in the operation against the Afghan Taleban will receive reinforcements from Russia. Recruiting, which began almost immediately after the terrorist acts in America, is proceeding at full speed. There are Russians willing to fight for money and not just in Chechnya, particularly since people are prepared to pay much more for Afghanistan, and it is the Americans who will pay.
The first group of volunteers in Nizhniy Novgorod Region is already ready to move against the Taleban. Here is a reportage by Irina Preobrazhenskaya:
[Correspondent] Oleg Safronov is the former deputy commander of a platoon of a reconnaissance battalion. He fought in Afghanistan at the start of the 1970s. Today he is prepared to go off there again. He has come to the Nizhniy Novgorod Union of Afghanistan Veterans to see for himself the letters which anonymous recruiters have begun to send out to Russian regions. Oleg says that the main reason why he is willing to become a mercenary is the big money that has been promised...
According to the Nizhniy Novgorod Union of Afghanistan Veterans, over the past few days alone ten Nizhniy Novgorod men have expressed the wish to apply to the US embassy, on whose behalf the recruiters are operating. These volunteers are mainly former career military airmen, forward air controllers and ground attack pilots. It is precisely these whom the recruiters are promising pay of 5,000 dollars per month.
According to Afghan veterans, the Russian mercenaries will be moved to the conflict zone secretly via third countries...
Recently the Nizhniy Novgorod Union's website received another letter. The World Security Organization whose headquarters is in New York has begun recruiting former Russian Afghan servicemen for the first international volunteer brigade. The letter says that this brigade will engage in special operations and reconnaissance on the territory of Afghanistan. The mercenaries are promised not only high pay but also insurance, benefits at the end of the conflict and help in finding work afterwards.
Well informed people assert that former Afghan veterans possess secret information about Russian methods of mountain fighting which are still used in Chechnya. If mercenaries divulge this information it could cause considerable damage to [Russia's] security...
The Nizhniy Novgorod directorate of the Federal Security Service makes no secret of the fact that it is carefully following the development of the situation. The new Russian criminal code has a special article banning mercenaries. Therefore, when they return to their homeland, the Nizhniy Novgorod mercenaries may expect a prison term of four to eight years.
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