According to local news, four South African males who were tricked into fighting with Russian troops in Ukraine came back home today.
According to AFP, their arrival comes only days after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about bringing South Africans home from the Ukraine war.
It wasn’t obvious right away if the four were part of a group of 17 guys that the presidency had indicated it was trying to bring home.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation showed the men arriving at Johannesburg’s main airport before they were taken to a police holding area.
Our source at the president said that the “process to secure the release of the men” was still going on.
In November, Pretoria said it had gotten “distress calls” from 17 individuals who were stuck in the middle of the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being lured into joining mercenary groups.
South African law says that citizens can’t fight for a foreign country’s army without permission from the government.
The war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 has brought in mercenaries from both sides, including from a number of African countries.
Our inquiry talked to four Kenyans who had just come back from Russia. They said a Nairobi recruitment agency tricked them into going to Russia by promising them well-paying employment.
After allegations that she was involved in getting men to join Russian mercenaries, the daughter of South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, quit parliament.
According to South African news reports, the opposition MK party, led by Zuma, who was president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018, allegedly sent the men to Russia for security training.
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