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View all search resultsPolice probe alleged trafficking in Russian military recruitment
Police have arrested 13 suspects across the five cases, including two Russian nationals and one Ukrainian national, for further investigation. One other suspect remains at large.
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Servicemen of the 67th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine load a shell into an artillerty towards Russian troops amid Russia's attack on Ukraine at a position near the frontline town of Kramatorsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine on Aug. 30, 2026. (Reuters/Oleksandr Ratushniak)
T
he National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) has launched a formal investigation into the alleged trafficking of Indonesian citizens recruited to join the Russian military, as reports of Indonesians being lured into fighting in the war in Ukraine continue to emerge.
Bareskrim director of criminal acts against women and children Brig. Gen. Nurul Azizah said earlier this week that the police had received five separate reports since late September, involving a total of 58 alleged victims.
Initial investigations have uncovered a recruitment pattern in which Indonesians were allegedly lured by social media advertisements promising lucrative salaries and bonuses to serve as foreign mercenaries. They were then sent to Russia on tourist visas for a month-long training program before being deployed to the battlefield.
Police have arrested 13 suspects across the five cases, including two Russian nationals and one Ukrainian national, for further investigation. One other suspect remains at large, Nurul said.
“We are still continuing to develop it to uncover a wider recruitment network, both at home and abroad,” Nurul told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.
“We want to emphasize that there is no tolerance for exploitation or human trafficking, whoever the perpetrator is and whatever their background,” she continued.
Read also: Ukraine claims another Indonesian recruited to Russian military killed
