Between two and three thousand Ukrainians have ended up jailed in Russia since 2015 on drugs charges after being tricked by advertisements promising legal employment as couriers. While very many such human trafficking victims are still stuck in Russian prisons, Vitaly Moskalenko, Ukrainian consul in Rostov-on-Don, reported back in 2017 that at least some have been pressured or simply forced to fight against Ukraine in Donbas or in Syria.

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