Russia accuses UK intelligence for recruiting mercenaries for Ukraine

MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged Tuesday that Great Britain is behind the recruitment of mercenaries for the war in Ukraine via the Adzuna job search portal.

In a comment on the Foreign Ministry website, Zakharova said Adzuna is a private company and, therefore, it solely bears responsibility for all content published on its website.

"At the same time, there is no doubt that British intelligence services are most likely behind this action. They are ready to pay large fees for hiring 'soldiers of fortune' for Ukraine at the expense of taxpayers of their own country," she said.

Zakharova said London has long used mercenaries to support Ukraine, noting former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ remarks who replied, “absolutely” when asked if she would support anyone wanting to fight in Ukraine.

"In this regard, we have to remind you again that any armed activity against Russian servicemen will be immediately suppressed, and groups of foreign mercenaries and 'volunteers' will be destroyed," said Zakharova.

She added that due to public information, a lot of mercenaries are fighting for Ukraine, recruited with the help of digital platforms.

"The bait is thrown also to citizens of Arab states. The existence of 'gray zones' in some of them that are not controlled by the legitimate authorities, the high activity of terrorist groups, and chronic socio-economic problems create a favorable ground for carrying out this kind of work (there)," she said.

Zakharova urged everyone to resist Great Britain’s recruitment efforts and accused London of looking for "expendable material" for war.