Online Recruitment of Fighters in Armenia for the Russia-Ukraine War: Samvel Martirosyan

“The Russia-Ukraine war is unfolding across numerous platforms. One of these is quite unique as it involves citizens from other countries who serve as potential mobilization resources for the conflicting parties,” wrote Media.am. The article's author, media expert Samvel Martirosyan, highlights that the primary tool for such recruitment is, for obvious reasons, the internet.

It is no secret that both warring countries are facing issues with mobilization, prompting both Russia and Ukraine to seek fighters from other countries, Martirosyan emphasized.

“Particularly social networks and streaming platforms, where advertisements can be placed in large volumes. Armenia is also targeted through recruitment operations. Both sides of the conflict are working in this direction. Currently, the activity is coming from Russia. Ukraine was the first to actively begin recruitment efforts, creating the International Legion and establishing recruitment infrastructures with the involvement of embassies. Advertisements started in March 2022, just days after the war began.

This is an example of an advertisement targeting specific residents of Germany. And this advertisement also targeted those living in Armenia on Facebook, offering specific steps to recruit for the Ukrainian International Legion.

Currently, no activity from Ukraine targeting the Armenian audience is observed. On the contrary, advertisements have begun to be actively posted from the Russian side, offering to become a contract soldier in the Russian army.

The Russian side does not have the capability to place advertisements on American social networks, as they would be promptly blocked. For this reason, a number of Russian websites, most of which belong to VK, are used as the main platform. This includes the VK social network, Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru platform, and others. Additionally, pirate sites that display movies and series are used for military recruitment, where advertisements can be placed without restrictions.

Here are a few similar recruitment advertisements that clearly target Armenians,” wrote Martirosyan.

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