Kathrine Frich
They sign military contracts to avoid prison.
Leaving home to find work in a new country is a standard choice for millions of people.
Families rely on the money sent back across the border. Sometimes, however, a simple search for a paycheck leads directly into a war zone.
A fatal decision
Two men from Kyrgyzstan traveled to Russia looking for ordinary jobs. Instead of building a better life, they found themselves on the front lines in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate, known as HUR, recently identified the men. Officials found their documents on the battlefield after both died in combat in June 2026, according to a report by United24 Media.
The cases highlight a harsh reality for foreign workers. Russian authorities are increasingly pushing migrants into military service.
Forced to the front
Dastan Tagaev, born in 1983, had been working in the city of Novosibirsk. Police raided his workplace in late 2025 and fined him 5,000 rubles for an expired visa.
According to HUR, local police threatened him with prison time over his migration status. Under severe pressure, Tagaev signed a military contract to avoid a jail cell.
Russian commanders gave him minimal training before deploying him. He died fighting Ukrainian forces in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Six weeks to live
Denis Alekseev faced a similar fate. The 40-year-old had been living as a labor migrant in Moscow, and he even picked up a replacement passport from the Kyrgyz embassy in April.
By early May, the situation changed completely. He signed a one-year contract with the Russian military, and the army quickly made him a rifleman.
His military career proved incredibly brief. Ukrainian troops killed Alekseev near the Donetsk settlement of Lipove in mid-June, exactly six weeks after he put his name on the dotted line.
A wider net
These two deaths are not isolated incidents. HUR noted that Russia actively uses police pressure and deportation threats to fill its military ranks with foreign laborers.
The recruitment drive reaches far beyond Central Asia. United24 Media previously reported on Colombian prisoners of war who experienced similar deception.
Recruiters promised those men high salaries and safe, behind-the-lines work. When they arrived in Russia, commanders handed them weapons and sent them straight into frontline assaults.
Sources: United24 Media, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR)
