Russia is offering American recruits signing bonuses of about $26,000 and monthly pay of roughly $2,000 to join its military in Ukraine, where Ukrainian intelligence officials say at least 18 Americans are among nearly 29,000 identified foreign fighters serving Moscow.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Russia is offering substantial cash incentives to Americans and other foreigners willing to join its military as Moscow seeks additional personnel for the war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials who say the overseas recruiting operation now extends across more than 130 countries.
American recruits are typically offered a signing payment of about $26,000 and approximately $2,000 per month after joining Russian forces, according to a New York Post report published Monday.
Ukrainian security services have identified at least 18 Americans who enlisted in Russia’s military. They also say they have identified nearly 29,000 foreign fighters from 135 countries, including recruits from Kenya, Ghana and North Korea.
Ukrainian officials believe the actual foreign contingent is larger because not every person who enters the Russian military can be identified.
Vitaliy Matvienko, who heads a Ukrainian government project encouraging Russian troops to surrender, said foreign recruitment has developed into a lucrative international business as Russia attempts to replace battlefield casualties.
“It has become an entire industry and is very profitable,” Matvienko told the Post.
He said Russia is sustaining between 30,000 and 40,000 battlefield casualties each month, a figure attributed to Ukrainian officials and not independently established in the report.
Recruiting agents operate internationally through platforms including Facebook, TikTok and Telegram, targeting potential soldiers with advertisements and direct outreach. According to the report, intermediaries can receive as much as $24,000 for delivering a recruit and may also receive a portion of the recruit’s military salary.
Matvienko said recruiters often focus on people experiencing financial difficulties, personal instability or strong ideological dissatisfaction with their home countries.
“They recruit foreigners, send them to war, and when they are killed, their deaths do not create any negative reaction in Russian society. In most cases, the families of killed foreign recruits do not receive the compensation they are supposed to receive,” he said.
Foreign troops can subsequently find themselves assigned to some of the most dangerous sections of the battlefield, according to Ukrainian officials and accounts attributed to foreign fighters.
One of the Americans who joined Russia’s military was Seth William Baker, a former U.S. Marine from Gilbert, Arizona.
Baker joined the Marine Corps at age 18 and served as a lance corporal and bulk fuel specialist with the 4th Marine Logistics Group. He received the National Defense Service Medal during his service.
His military career ended after he refused the COVID-19 vaccination when the Defense Department required service members to receive it.
Baker subsequently attempted to enter a police academy but was unsuccessful, according to Matvienko. He later traveled to Russia and signed a military contract.
Baker explained some of his reasoning in a video recorded from a Russian bunker.
“There’s many reasons why I came here, but one of the big tipping points was when I was a lance corporal,” Baker said.
“They came out with the COVID vaccine mandate in the military. There’s a few of us – not very many unfortunately – that said, ‘We’re not going to take it.’ There’s all this talk about freedom in America, but not for some of us, I suppose.”
Baker was killed on the Ukrainian front approximately three months after joining Russian forces. He was 23.
Matvienko said Baker represented the type of potential recruit Russian operations seek out.
“He was discharged from military service, failed to get into a police academy, and apparently struggled to find his place in American society. Seth was obviously a young man who was susceptible to influence,” he said.
The Post characterized Baker as having been exposed to Russian online propaganda before enlisting. The exact role that propaganda played in his decision cannot be independently determined from his public statements alone.
Another American identified as serving Russia is Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former Massachusetts city councilor and Air Force veteran.
Puello-Mota served six years in the U.S. Air Force and later fled the United States while facing a child pornography charge. Authorities had found nude photographs of a 17-year-old girl on his phone in 2020, while Puello-Mota maintained that he believed she was 22.
He signed a Russian military contract in April 2024 and subsequently appeared in Russian media footage displaying an American flag in a Ukrainian city.
“Victory will be ours,” Puello-Mota said in Russian.
He also rejected the characterization that fighting for Moscow made him disloyal to the United States.
“I don’t consider myself a traitor. The United States and Russia aren’t at war.”
Puello-Mota remained with Russian forces as of the report and suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg in an explosion last month. The severity of those injuries was unclear.
Another case drew particular attention because of the recruit’s family connections to the U.S. intelligence community.
Michael Gloss, 21, was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was serving as the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation, and Larry Gloss, a U.S. Navy veteran.
Gloss had reportedly experienced mental health difficulties and stopped taking medication before losing contact with his family and eventually joining the Russian military.
Photographs later emerged showing him wearing military clothing alongside Russian troops.
Gloss was killed in April 2024 during an artillery attack in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
His father said his son suffered massive blood loss while attempting to assist a wounded Russian soldier.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later presented U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff with a medal intended for Gloss’ parents recognizing their son’s service with Russian forces.
The Post also identified Derek Huffman, an American who moved his family to Russia and subsequently enlisted.
Huffman, 47, had said he moved his wife, DeAnna, and their three daughters to Russia in part because of what he called LGBTQ “indoctrination” in the United States. He later signed a Russian military contract, saying he wanted to earn “respect” and help his family obtain Russian citizenship.
His wife expressed alarm after learning he had been moved toward frontline duty.
“He feels like he’s being thrown to the wolves right now, and he’s kind of having to lean on faith, and that’s what we’re all doing,” she said in a video that was later deleted.
Huffman ultimately returned from his first period of service without being wounded but later told supporters that he had “signed another contract” because “victory is close” for Russia.
For foreign recruits, signing a Russian military contract can carry implications extending far beyond the term they initially believe they have accepted.
A decree issued by Putin in 2022 provides for military contracts to remain in effect until the conclusion of what Moscow officially calls its “special military operation,” according to the Post.
That means a foreign recruit may not necessarily be able to leave when the original period specified in a contract expires.
Matvienko said Americans who join Russia’s forces are particularly valuable to Moscow’s propaganda efforts.
He described Russia as having a “very strange, almost psychedelic attitude toward Americans.”
“When an American suddenly ends up fighting on Russia’s side, it becomes an almost sacred event for Russian propaganda,” Matvienko said.
“Their opinions are presented as extremely important. They are invited onto television, featured in reports, interviewed, and taken around Russian media outlets and public events.
“Russian propaganda presents them as proof that ‘people in the West understand what is really going on,’ or that ‘ordinary Americans support Russia,'”.
Matvienko said those public portrayals can differ sharply from how foreign recruits are treated within military units.
Foreign fighters have reported physical abuse and racist treatment from Russian soldiers, according to accounts cited in the report. Some have said they were assigned to extremely dangerous attacks with little expectation of survival.
Those operations are sometimes referred to as “meat assaults,” describing attacks in which infantry troops are repeatedly pushed toward heavily defended Ukrainian positions despite substantial expected casualties.
Other foreign fighters have reported being ordered to continue fighting while seriously wounded.
Matvienko also alleged that recruits can lose significant amounts of the salaries they were promised after reaching their units.
“When they arrive at their military units, they are told they must contribute money to the unit’s ‘fund’ to buy drones, vehicles, fuel, and other equipment,” he said. “Those who refuse may be beaten or threatened with execution.”
Those allegations come primarily from Ukrainian officials and accounts attributed to foreign fighters and should be understood in the context of an ongoing war in which both governments conduct information campaigns.
The recruitment figures nonetheless indicate that foreign enlistment has become a substantial component of Russia’s effort to sustain its military manpower.
Americans represent only a small portion of the nearly 29,000 foreign fighters Ukrainian intelligence says it has identified, but their participation carries outsized propaganda value because Moscow can present them domestically as evidence that some U.S. citizens reject Washington’s support for Ukraine.
For potential recruits, the advertised offer can be straightforward: approximately $26,000 for signing a Russian military contract and another $2,000 for each month of service.
What follows can be far less predictable. The experiences documented among Americans who have already enlisted include frontline combat, serious injuries, contracts that can be extended indefinitely and, in the cases of Baker and Gloss, death in Ukraine.
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