Russia has launched criminal investigations against 75 foreign “mercenaries” — including an undisclosed number of Canadians — who are fighting in defense of Ukraine, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee says.
Aleksandr Bastrykin, who leads the national criminal investigation agency, says the information about foreign fighters has been gleaned from interrogations of more than 2,000 captured Ukrainian soldiers, including five brigade commanders.
“These testimonies relate, among other things, to work with foreign instructors, as well as the participation of citizens of other countries as mercenaries,” Bastrykin told state-funded broadcaster Russia Today in an interview published Tuesday.
“Based on available data, criminal cases have been initiated against 75 mercenaries who are participating in hostilities on the side of Ukraine. We know that they came from the UK, USA, Norway, Canada, Georgia and other countries.”
Calls to the Investigative Committee headquarters in Moscow were not answered. There has been no response to a request to the agency’s press service for additional information.
Bastrykin’s use of the term “mercenary” appears to be both intentional and provocative — but legally incorrect in the present situation, says Chris Ecklund, a Hamilton-native who is in contact with Canadians currently in Ukraine.
The Geneva Conventions define mercenaries as someone who fights on behalf of another country for money or material gain over and above what similarly ranked soldiers of that country are paid. Canadians going to fight in defense of Ukraine go as unpaid volunteers, Ecklund said.
Mercenaries have no legal status and are guaranteed no protections as prisoners of war under the humanitarian law and can be charged if captured by an enemy force. Under Russian law, mercenaries can face up to seven years in prison.
Volunteer fighters, like regular armed forces, are guaranteed prisoner-of-war status and cannot be prosecuted for their participation in a conflict.
“They have no basis in law to be calling these people mercenaries because it simply does not pass the test,” Ecklund said.
In the Russia Today interview, Bastrykin cited only one foreigner by name — a citizen of Georgia who allegedly created the Georgian National Legion, a volunteer unit, and recruited 24 other Georgian citizens to fight alongside him.
Another volunteer fighting outfit, the Norman Brigade, describes itself as a “western volunteer unit fighting for Ukraine” and is believed to have a number of Canadian citizens in its ranks.
On April 28, a spokesperson for the militia of the Donetsk Peoples’ Republic, a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine, said a former Canadian lieutenant-general may be among the estimated 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers and volunteer fighters holed up in underground bunkers at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine.
Eduard Basurin, the spokesperson, provided no evidence to support his claim that retired Lt.-Gen. Trevor Cadieu was among what Russia says are as many as 400 foreign fighters trapped in the besieged factory complex.
Cadieu was under investigation for sexual misconduct when he retired from the Canadian Armed Forces on April 5, according to the Ottawa Citizen. After retiring, I have reportedly traveled to Ukraine as a volunteer fighter.
Last week, the Investigative Committee said it was also investigating the Canadian military training mission in Ukraine which, the agency said on its Telegram channel, “reportedly trained members of the Nazi Azov Regiment as part of a training mission in Ukraine.”
The Azov Battalion is a Ukrainian military regiment that has been accused of holding white supremacist and neo-Nazi views. It was formed in 2014 as a volunteer regiment and has since been integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy said this week that the unit is now part of the Ukrainian National Guard and has shed its former extremist members and affiliations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has already imposed retaliatory sanctions against the Canadian military commanders of Op Unifier, the mission that involved training Ukrainian soldiers.
Among them are Brig.-Gen Timothy Arsenault; Lt.-Col. Luc-Frederic Gilbert; Lt-Col. Frederick Cote; Lt.-Col. Fraser Ault; and Lt.-Col. Melanie Lake.
In November 2021, the Ottawa Citizen reported on the fallout from a June 2018 meeting between Canadian officers and diplomats and leaders of the Azov Battalion, after which they posed for a photograph that was later posted online.
Auld reportedly warned about the optics and political repercussions of Canadian officials meeting with members of the military outfit.
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