As of October 1, the Coordination Headquarters project "I Want to Live" has identified the names of 45 959 foreigners from 151 countries who have signed contracts with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
This was reported by the Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters Dmitry Usov, the press service reports.
The scale of recruitment of foreigners is growing: in 2022, the Russian Federation managed to recruit 94 foreigners to the Armed Forces; in 2023 — 4 067; in 2024 — 8 877; in 2025 — 16 085 foreign citizens signed contracts; in 9 months of 2026 — 16 168.
The Russians plan to recruit a total of 18 500 foreigners for the war in Ukraine this year. However, if the Russians continue at the same pace, they will exceed their plan as early as November, and by the end of 2026 the number of new foreign contract soldiers could reach 21 500.
According to the Coordination Headquarters, the Russian Federation recruited the largest number of foreigners in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Belarus. However, this process is growing most rapidly in the countries of Africa and Latin America.
In the first 9 months of 2026, 1 449 citizens of Colombia, 699 citizens of Burundi, 530 citizens of Zimbabwe, and 503 citizens of Peru signed service contracts in the Russian Federation.
Overall, a survey of foreign prisoners of war conducted by the "I Want to Live" project showed that 46.7% signed a contract in order to obtain Russian citizenship. Among them, only 28% did not know that they would be fighting against Ukraine.
In addition, 41.4% of mercenaries were recruited through military enlistments and selection points. Another 48.8% were captured due to injuries, and 79% of all foreign mercenaries want to return to the Russian Federation as part of an exchange.
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