An orientalist explained why the Ukrainian Embassy in Tajikistan openly recruited mercenaries

The perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Crocus were recruited by the Ukrainian Embassy in Tajikistan. This is reported by a number of media outlets. MK managed to find out that Ukrainian embassies actually recruited mercenaries in many countries around the world. However, firstly, this is not a sensation – they wrote about it two years ago. Secondly, it is extremely doubtful that the killers for the terrorist attack in Crocus were recruited in a similar way. Let’s try to figure out why and what ISIS has to do with it (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation).

The recruitment of mercenaries in Tajikistan by the Ukrainian Embassy to participate in military operations against the Russian Federation in March 2022 was reported by the branch of the Russian news agency Sputnik in Dushanbe. Potential combatants were encouraged to join the Ukrainian International Legion, a force of foreign mercenaries created by the Ukrainian government and intelligence services. The announcement was openly published on the website of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Dushanbe and in a number of other countries, in particular in Greece. All contacts were indicated: email and telephone number of the “Call Center of the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine”. This information was then deleted – after the intervention of the Tajik Foreign Ministry, as stated by military expert, retired colonel Bakhtiyor Rakhmonov. However, in March, just before the terrorist attack, the announcement appeared again. But it didn’t last long. His screenshots were saved and published on the Internet.

The recruitment work could be led by the Ambassador Extraordinary of Ukraine to Tajikistan Valery Evdokimov. He was appointed to this position by Zelensky on June 24, 2022. Previously, from September 20, 2019 to June 5, 2020, Evdokimov headed the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. It is interesting that there is no information about this person on the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in Dushanbe, and in the English-language Wikipedia there is no information on his page that he is the ambassador to Tajikistan.

However, I emphasize that the embassy announcements were specifically about recruitment into the International Legion. His task is to take a direct part in the fighting at the front. These are action movies, cannon fodder. Yes, such activities of the embassy are illegal – recruiting mercenaries is in no way part of the functions of a diplomatic mission and is incompatible with the status of a diplomat. However, it seems that the law is not written to Ukrainian diplomats. In January 2023, Belarusian media reported the detention in Minsk of a 36-year-old Georgian citizen who was recruited at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tbilisi to participate in the Ukrainian conflict as part of the Georgian Legion (part of the International Legion). In Minsk, he was supposed to receive further instructions from the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus. At the same time, Belarusian journalists reported that since the beginning of the Northern Military District, “soldiers of fortune” have been recruited in Ukrainian embassies around the world.

But I personally doubt that the terrorists for Crocus were recruited through the embassy. This is a typical “false flag” terrorist attack, the organizers of which want more than anything to remain anonymous. There is always a chance that the perpetrators will be captured. And what will they say then? What did you call based on the advertisement listed on the website of the Ukrainian Embassy? And there is no doubt that they will tell everything. Modern intelligence services have methods that will make even a stone talk. Don’t confuse warm with sour and underestimate your enemy. The British and American intelligence services, under whose leadership the Main Intelligence Directorate and the Security Service of Ukraine work, are excellent professionals who use all the most modern methods. They wouldn’t expose themselves so stupidly.

According to Alexander Knyazev, Doctor of Historical Sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO of the Russian Foreign Ministry, information about the recruitment of mercenaries through the Ukrainian embassy may well correspond to reality. “This is the general policy of Kyiv. If this information is confirmed, it will not be at all surprising. This is quite natural for this mode. Probably, we need to draw the attention of the relevant Tajik government agencies to this, which, we assume, did not pay due attention to this. As far as I know, in the legislation of Tajikistan, like many other countries, there is a rule prohibiting the participation of citizens of Tajikistan in armed groups outside the country, armed conflicts, and so on. Probably, official structures should have monitored this.”

– The West is trying to blame the terrorist attack on ISIS (a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation). How big is the influence of ISIS in Tajikistan?

– I think that they are simply turning the tables on ISIS in order to divert them away from the real customers. Judging by the short videos that were posted, there was no talk about Islam or jihad at all, they only talked about the money they were promised. You can often find arguments that the terrorist attack was definitely organized by IS from Afghanistan. I think they are far-fetched and have a purpose. Performers could be found anywhere, even in Africa, the Tajiks are simply more convenient, they are more familiar on the streets, and there is less attention to them.

– Tell me more about this IS from Afghanistan.

– In Afghanistan there is a certain network of small groups belonging to the Islamic State, which at one time broke away from the one that existed in the Middle East. They are fighting the Taliban, committing terrorist attacks against minorities in Afghanistan, and conducting propaganda work. Of course, they have interaction with the same underground in other countries, including Tajikistan. They are called ISIS “Khorasan” (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) or the Afghan branch of ISIS.

– The Americans were talking about them.

– It is no coincidence that they are talking about this. This is a translation of the arrows.

-Are they capable of some serious things?

– No, this is a network structure, a set of small groups that are not very coordinated with each other. I don’t think they have the potential to expand anywhere outside of Afghanistan. The Taliban are beating them quite seriously. Therefore, they are only capable of targeted terrorist attacks. In Afghanistan, they blow up Shiite mosques, for example, attack individual Taliban groups. The war between them has been going on steadily since 2015. They are few in number. I don’t think there is any potential there to create the kind of picture we saw from Syria – huge armies, attempts to create state structures, there is nothing like that there. They arose at a time when ISIS was strong in the Middle East and Syria. But then the Middle Eastern ISIS no longer cared about these branches of its own, especially after Russian forces entered the war in Syria.