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Ukraine is reportedly scamming Syrian militants who were recruited to fight as mercenaries with its forces against the Russian military.
On July 13, a video surfaced online showing a militant of the so-called Syrian National Army (SNA) claiming that he was scammed by Ukrainian authorities after fighting there for three months. The militant, who was only identified by his nom de guerre “Abu Mohamad,” said that he was paid in counterfeit money.
The SNA is a coalition of Turkish-backed armed factions. The coalition rules Turkish-occupied areas in northern and eastern Syria and has a history of sending militants to fight as mercenaries in foreign conflicts, namely in Libya and the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The militant who alleges that he was scammed by Ukrainian authorities did not clarify who recruited him or how he was transferred to Ukraine.
In the video, Abu Mohamad shows off fake $50 notes and says that he only found out that he was scammed by Ukrainian authorities after returning to Syria. When attempting to use the money he was paid in Ukraine to buy a motorcycle, the militant was arrested.
Abu Mohamad specifies that he was arrested by the Free Military Police, which is indeed the main law enforcement body in Turkish-occupied areas in Syria.
Attempts by Ukraine to recruit military from Syria were first reported just a few days after the start of the Russian special military operation last year.
Last month, Sputnik revealed in a report that the intelligence services of the United States and Ukraine were plotting attacks against Russian forces in Syria and recruiting militants from the country for Kiev forces. The CIA, the U.S. main intelligence agency, was promising recruits a monthly salary of up to $2,000, the news agency said.
The news agency said in a follow-up report that the U.S. had already transferred around 650 militants from Syria to the bitfield in Ukraine.
The Russian military, who maintains a large presence in Syria, is yet to comment on these recent reports. If Ukraine was indeed attempting to recruit militants from the war-torn country on a mass scale, Russia could respond by targeting recruitment and training centers there.
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