DISINFO: Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are fighting on the wrong side
SUMMARY
Russia has no other option except to eliminate any foreign mercenary fighting in the new pointless war initiated by the US. More than 8,000 mercenaries from abroad have arrived in Ukraine, despite the fact that the recruitment of mercenaries is legally banned and prosecuted in many countries.
RESPONSE
A pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that foreigners fighting against Russia are mercenaries.
Ukraine called on experienced foreign nationals to join its foreign legion, whose members are regular soldiers of the Ukrainian army and not mercenaries. Foreigners fighting for Ukraine receive the same salary as Ukrainian citizens. Those Legionnaires who do not wish to sign a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces join volunteer battalions. They do not receive material benefits - most of them have personal, ideological reasons to defend Ukraine’s independence and the rights of Ukrainians.
Other countries also offer foreigners the opportunity to join the foreign legion without being mercenaries, as in the case of the French Légion étrangère.
Furthermore, as pointed out by experts, the nationality of the soldier is not an issue:
"Combatants are members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict or volunteers corps incorporated therein. According to the ICRC Commentary to Article 4, the requirement for membership in the armed forces, or the incorporation of the volunteer corps, is a matter of domestic regulation. But the incorporated unit must be a professional fighting force, fulfilling the criteria spelled out in Article 4A(2) of GC III, and be subordinate to the regular army command. The fact that an individual is a national of a third State and not a national of the armed forces in which they are serving is widely considered to be irrelevant when it comes to determining combatant or POW status."
For more information read StopFake's article about "American mercenaries" for Ukraine.
See also a similar disinformation claims alleging that American mercenaries are recruited en masse and sent to Ukraine that Russia is at war not so much with Ukraine, but with the collective West and its mercenaries and that Significant number of foreign mercenaries are fighting on Ukraine's side.