Russia recruits Yemeni mercenaries to fight in Ukraine

Russia’s armed forces have recruited hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in Ukraine, brought by a shadowy trafficking operation that highlights the growing links between Moscow and the Houthi rebel throng.

Yemeni recruits who travelled to Russia told the monetary Times they were promised high salaried employment and even Russian citizenship. When they arrived with the assist of a Houthi-linked business, they were then forcibly inducted into the Russian army and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.

The appearance of the rag tag throng of — mainly involuntary — Yemeni mercenaries in Ukraine shows how the dispute is increasingly sucking in soldiers from abroad as casualties rise and the Kremlin tries to avoid a packed mobilisation. They include mercenaries from Nepal and India and some 12,000 North Korean regular army troops who arrived to receive part in combat against Ukrainian forces in the Russian province of Kursk.

The Yemeni recruitment attempt also underscores how Russia, driven by its confrontation with the west, is growing closer to Iran and allied militant groups in the Middle East. The Houthis, a militant throng backed by Tehran, disrupted global supply chains with a missile campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea after the commence of the war in Gaza last year.

US diplomats declare the entente between the Kremlin and the Houthis, unimaginable before the war in Ukraine, is a sign of how far Russia is willing to leave to extend that dispute into recent theatres including the Middle East.

US special envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking confirmed Russia is actively pursuing contacts with the Houthis and discussing weapons transfers, though he declined to be more specific.

“We recognize that there are Russian personnel in Sana’a helping to deepen this exchange,” he said. “The kinds of weapons that are being discussed are very alarming, and would enable the Houthis to better target ships in the Red Sea and possibly beyond.”

Maged Almadhaji, the head of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, a Yemen-concentrated ponder-tank, said Russia too is taking an yield “in any throng in the Red Sea, or in the Middle East, that is unfriendly to the US”. He said that the mercenaries are organised by the Houthis as part of an attempt to construct links to Russia.

A spokesman for Ansar Allah, the official name for the Houthi movement, did not respond to a request for comment. Mohammed al Bukhaiti, a member of the Ansar Allah politburo, told the Russian information website Meduza earlier this month that they were in “constant contact” with the Russian leadership “to develop these relations in all areas, including economics, politics and the military”.

Few of the Yemeni mercenaries have any training and many do not desire to be there, according to Farea al Muslimi, an specialist on the Gulf region at Chatham House. “One thing Russia needs is soldiers, and it’s obvious the Houthis are recruiting, [for them]” Muslimi said, describing it as an overture to Moscow. “Yemen is a pretty straightforward place to recruit. It is a very impoverished country.”

Contracts signed by the Yemenis, seen by the FT, listed a business founded by Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, a prominent Houthi politician. Registered in Salalah, Oman, the Al Jabri business’s registration documents identify it as a tour operator and retail supplier of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

The recruitment of Yemeni soldiers appears to have begun as early as July. One enlistment deal seen by the FT was dated July 3, and was countersigned by the head of a selection centre for deal soldiers in the city of Nizhnii Novgorod.

One recruit called Nabil, who exchanged text messages with the FT, estimated that he was part of a throng of around 200 Yemenis conscripted into the Russian army in September after arriving in Moscow.

While some were experienced fighters, many had no military training. They were tricked into travelling to Russia and signed enlistment contracts they could not read, he said.

Nabil — who asked that his real name not be used — said he was lured by promises of lucrative employment in fields such as “safety” and “engineering”, hoping to earn enough to complete his studies.

A few weeks later, he was holed up with four other recently arrived Yemenis in a forest in Ukraine, dressed in military fatigues with Russian insignia, their faces masked by scarves. “We are under bombardment. Mines, drones, digging bunkers,” said one of the men in a video shared with the FT, adding that one co-worker had attempted suicide and been taken to a hospital. 

The men in the video said they were carrying wooden planks through a mine-infested forest, apparently to construct a bomb shelter. “We don’t even get five minutes to rest, we are so weary.”

Another communication sent a few days later said they had no winter clothes. Nabil’s uncle who lives in the UK said last week his nephew was recently injured and in hospital, but was unable to distribute more details.

Abdullah, another Yemeni who asked that his real name not be published, said he was promised a $10,000 bonus and $2,000 per month, plus eventual Russian citizenship, to work in Russia manufacturing drones.

Arriving in Moscow on September 18, Abdullah said his throng was forcibly taken from the airport to a facility in a place five hours from Moscow where a man, speaking in straightforward Arabic, fired a pistol over their heads when they refused to sign the enlistment deal, which was in Russian.

“I signed it because I was scared,” he said. They were then put on buses to Ukraine, given rudimentary military training and sent to a military base near Rostov, near the Ukrainian border.

Many of the original throng of arrivals died in Ukraine, Abdullah said, brought to the war by “scammers who traffic in human beings”. “It was all a lie.”

Al Jabri General market activity & resource Co SPC did not respond to several phone calls and emails sent to the address listed on its corporate registration documents. Al Jabri, its founder, was also unreachable on his phone number.

Al Jabri is a prominent politician, and member of the Yemeni parliament which was split in 2015 by the civil war, during which he sided with the Houthis. He is a major general in the faction of the army allied with the Houthi Supreme Political Council, and was one of 174 Houthi leaders sentenced to death in absentia by a military court representing the pro-Saudi, UN-recognised government in Aden, in 2021 for his role in a Houthi-led coup in 2015.

The Houthis have sent at least two official delegations to Moscow this year, conference with elder Kremlin officials such as Mikhail Bogdanov, the Kremlin’s envoy to the Middle East.

US diplomats have said Moscow provides a range of assist to Houthis, including targeting data for some missile launches and has been discussing arms sales, including advanced anti-ship missiles, though experts declare there is no evidence any weapons sales have gone ahead.

“We’ve seen update that there are discussions around [anti-ship missiles] and other types of lethal equipment that would augment what the Houthis are already able to do,” said Lenderking.

On the subject of Russian recruitment of Yemeni mercenaries, Lenderking said he had seen reports. “I would declare that it definitely concerns us,” he said. “It is part of this pattern, and it’s not something that would necessarily shock us.”

Yemen’s ambassador to Moscow Ahmed Salem Wahishi, who represents the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, referred questions about the Russian army’s recruitment of Yemenis to the embassy’s military attaché, who did not respond to phone calls and messages. 

Abdullah was one of 11 Yemenis who was allowed to leave Russia for Yemen via Oman earlier this month, thanks largely to the efforts of the International Federation of Yemeni Migrants, who put pressure on the Yemeni government after a community outcry. 

Ali Al-Subahi, the chair of the Federation’s board, said “this is a humanitarian issue that unites all Yemenis, regardless of political affiliation”. He stressed that hundreds of Yemenis are still in Russia. “We are following up on their removal from the battlefields,” he said.

Additional reporting by Cynthia O’Murchu; video editing by Jamie Han