Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, numerous volunteers have gone to war from Germany. For the first time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany provided data on the number of its citizens fighting in Ukraine.
The newspaper Welt am Sonntag writes about this with reference to the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
In total, we are talking about 61 people. According to the agency, these people have "extremist views or a connection with politically motivated criminal offenses."
At the same time, 39 German citizens are suspected of having left the country with the intention of participating in hostilities. Of them, 27 are fighting on the side of Russia, 12 on the side of Ukraine. Earlier, the German media reported about former immigrants from the countries of the social camp with German citizenship who joined the units of the Russian army.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet provided any concrete facts.
- Germans who take part in the war in Ukraine are not persecuted in Germany, unless they are mercenaries and fight in the regular army. However, this does not exempt them from possible responsibility for committing war crimes.