You're reading: Over 16,000 former Ukrainian servicemen, civilian personnel enrolled into Russian Armed Forces

More than 16,000 former Ukrainian servicemen and civilian personnel have enrolled into the Russian Armed Forces, said Russia's deputy defense minister, General of the Army Arkady Bakhin.

“As many as 9,268 Ukrainian citizens from this category have received
Russian passports and have been recruited to serve in the Russian Armed
Forces under contract, among them 2,768 officers, 1,302
non-commissioned officers, 5,700 soldiers (sailors, sergeants and
sergeants major) and 191 academy cadets,” Bakhin said in an intercom
conference at the Defense Ministry’s situation center.

“All of them have received Russian passports,” Bakhin added.

He said that in line with the defense minister’s instructions of
April 3, 2014, “training has been organized for this category of
servicemen at the Russian Defense Ministry’s academies under advanced
professional training programs.”

In addition to this, “7,050 civilian personnel who served in the
Ukrainian armed forces have been employed to work in the Russian Black
Sea Fleet,” Bakhin said.

Training assemblies began Tuesday for former Ukrainian servicemen,
who have received positions in the Russian Armed Forces, under the
supervision of the Southern Military District commander at the Nakhimov
Black Sea Higher Naval School in Sevastopol, he said.

“The main goal of the assembly training is to get the freshly
employed personnel adjusted to the service in the Russian Armed Forces
and to undergo tactical, technical and mobilization training,” Bakhin
said.

The assembly training includes lectures and practical drills in the
main aspects of the troops’ functioning, control and logistics in
Crimea,” Bakhin said.