Four South African men lured into fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine returned home today, local media said.
Their arrival comes days after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on the return of South Africans caught up in the Ukraine war, reports AFP.
It was not immediately clear if the four were part of a group of 17 men the presidency previously said it was trying to bring home.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation showed the men arriving at Johannesburg’s main airport before they were escorted to a police holding area.
The presidency told our correspondent the “process to secure the release of the men” was still ongoing.
In November, Pretoria said it had received “distress calls” from 17 men who were trapped in the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being tricked into joining mercenary forces.
South African law prohibits its citizens from fighting for a foreign country’s army without government authorisation.
The war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has drawn in mercenaries on both sides, including from several African countries.
Our investigation spoke to four Kenyans recently returned from Russia who said they were deceived by a Nairobi recruitment agency into travelling to Russia under false promises of well-paid jobs.
A daughter of South Africa’s ex‑President Jacob Zuma resigned from parliament after claims she was involved in recruiting men to join Russian mercenaries.
Reports in South African media said the men were allegedly sent to Russia for security training by the opposition MK party, which is headed by Zuma, South Africa’s president between 2009 and 2018.
