Men from Azerbaijan were among foreign nationals recruited into Russia’s armed forces through deception or coercion, according to a new report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
The U.N.-backed commission investigated the recruitment of citizens from 48 countries and said it found evidence involving men from 29 nations, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Brazil and South Africa.
The recruits were between 18 and 60 years old and came largely from economically vulnerable or marginalized communities, the commission said.
Recruiting agents presented themselves as legitimate businesses, arranged visas and in some cases traveled with the men to Russia. After arriving, the recruits were forced to sign Russian-language contracts with the Defense Ministry that they did not understand, according to the report.
The commission did not disclose the number or identities of recruits from individual countries.
Energy Attacks
In the same report, the commission concluded that Russian attacks intentionally directed at civilian energy infrastructure in Ukraine constituted war crimes. It also said the widespread suffering inflicted on civilians amounted to crimes against humanity.
The findings were based on accounts from 255 people in Kyiv and eight other regions who experienced power and heating outages during the winter of 2025-26, as well as evidence from doctors, government officials and civil-society organizations.
The commission said the outages left millions without electricity and heat, disrupted hospital services and prevented some elderly residents from using elevators to reach shelters during attacks.
Russia Rejects Findings
Russia’s U.N. mission said Moscow does not recognize the commission’s mandate and described its findings as based on “falsified data.” Russian authorities have said they strike only military targets or infrastructure used by Ukraine’s armed forces.
The findings were published by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Associated Press also reported details of the inquiry.
Originally published in Russian by Vesti Baku.