Najm Al-Dain Qasem
Sami (a pseudonym), a twenty-four-year-old Yemeni youth, never imagined that he would end up on fierce battlefronts where the remains of his comrades are scattered, and bullets and shell fragments fly around him a few centimeters away from his frozen body. A battle that does not concern him, in a strange land he knows nothing about. He fell victim to a shiny deception by obtaining a job opportunity in Russia, after recruiters took advantage of his economic need and difficult circumstances, only to suddenly find himself in the center of a battle on behalf of the Russians, forcing him to crawl back under a hail of drone shells that followed him wherever he went.
In audio recordings he sent to his friends via WhatsApp, Sami warned them not to fall into the trap of false promises or succumb to the pressure exerted by the leadership of the Russian camps to send them to the battlefronts. He told them how the commanders there convinced him and his comrades that they would have air support to protect them, but he found himself injured, exposed, and a few steps away from the “enemy,” as Ukrainian army drones targeted them with shells that killed three of his comrades in front of his eyes in the Tokmak region.
This investigation traces the recruitment of Yemenis to fight in Ukraine for the Russian army, coordinated by the Al-Jabri Company for General Trade and Investment. This company exploits Yemeni youth with promises of job opportunities in Russia, but once they arrive, they are taken to training camps for a few days before being pushed to the front lines of the battlefronts.
The investigation also documents the enrollment of 227 Yemeni recruits in the ranks of the Russian army, six of whom were killed and seven others were injured, while some sources and witnesses indicate that the number of recruits increased to about 429 Yemenis, in addition to an unknown number of missing persons. Others are currently detained in Russian camps and forced to perform hard labor, such as cutting wood and digging trenches for more than 14 hours a day, as punishment for their hunger strike, demanding to return to Yemen, and refusing to join the fighting. Despite this, the recruitment process continues until November 17, 2024.
The case of Yemeni conscripts is similar to the Ottoman conscription camps for the people of the Levant and Hejaz, known as “Safar Belk,” during the First World War.
International companies are active in recruiting Yemenis, through the Al-Jabri Company for General Trade and Investment, owned by the former military general and parliamentarian, Abdulwali Al-Jabri, who is affiliated with the Houthi group and close to the group’s leadership. According to the register of the company, which is based in Oman, the date of its registration was October 4, 2022, with a capital of 20,000 Omani riyals, equivalent to 52,000 US dollars.
Although the second clause of the contract states that “the first party (the intermediary company) is responsible for providing the second party with appropriate and decent work in Russian territory, based on the second party’s qualifications, experience and capabilities,” the contract also included a broad sentence that allows the company to employ them in “civil, security or military fields,” despite the fact that the majority do not have any military experience, and therefore they were trained and forced to fight in battles.
Al-Jabri’s contract
Ali Nasser (pseudonym), who is currently in a Russian camp, explains how he and others were recruited: “I was working in the field of delivery in the Omani capital, Muscat, and due to the lack of work and our inability to fulfill our monthly obligations to our families in Yemen, we were looking for other jobs, until we found Muhammad al-Olyani in Oman, who told us that he works in a recruitment company and that they provide jobs in Russia, and we were introduced to Abdulwali al-Jabri and his company, then they lured us with sweet words and promised us jobs in Russia, until they told us that we could take Russian citizenship.”
After that meeting with Al-Jabri, they handed over their passports in April 2024, where they were delayed inside the Russian embassy in Muscat, and were told that they would only receive them on the day of travel, and that backtracking was not allowed.
Russian visas
On August 2 of the same year (2024), they went to Muscat airport, received their passports at the gate, and were forced to sign contracts that they did not receive a copy of.
The 38 Yemenis on the flight were accompanied by a Russian national named Dmitry, who helped them clear the formalities at Muscat and Dubai airports, and then disappeared once they arrived at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.
Dmitry… Al Jabri’s Russian collaborator.jpeg
Once in Moscow, passports were taken away from the Yemenis, and cell phones were monitored, according to more than one Yemeni recruit.
The group again signed contracts in Russian, the details of which they did not know, and were forbidden from photographing these contracts under the pretext that they were confidential security contracts.
The group was then met by Hani al-Zarqi, Al-Jabri’s representative in Russia, who was accompanied by two muscular men, and they all went directly to a camp in the Rostov region, near the Ukrainian border, 200 kilometers north of Moscow. There, they were told they needed military training for “self-defense.” The training, which included marksmanship, the use of rockets, landmines, and trenching, took 15 to 25 days, according to the recruits.
Ten days later, the group found out through an Egyptian-Russian doctor named Hassan, who works as a translator and doctor for the Russian Ministry of Defense, that they had been defrauded, that they would be sent to fight, and that the company that brought them in was a military company. They were then forced to go to the front lines.
For nine years, Yemen has been facing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, according to United Nations reports, as a result of the war that broke out on March 26, 2015, after the Houthi coup against the legitimate government and the subsequent intervention of the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Today, the Houthi group controls about 22.8 percent of the area of Yemen, specifically in ten governorates located in the north and northwest, in addition to the southern, eastern and southwestern governorates. This war has resulted in a humanitarian tragedy suffered by 22 million Yemenis today, as a result of the total destruction of the economy, which exacerbated youth unemployment rates and pushed millions to the brink of poverty.
Abdulwahid al-Awbli, a researcher in Yemeni economics, said: “The difficult economic conditions in Yemen have pushed many Yemeni youth to look for any opportunity to get out of the cycle of poverty and unemployment… “Because of these conditions, young people have become vulnerable to exploitation. Some of them were aware that they would go to fight, but due to desperation and lack of alternatives, they find themselves forced to accept the risks.
The fraud to which the Yemeni youth were subjected did not stop at the nature of the work they were assigned to do in Russia, but rather that they signed contracts authorizing the Russian recruitment company to take their financial dues. These details were later revealed to them by the Egyptian doctor. When they received bank cards without any insurance, they found only three thousand US dollars (36,000 rubles), unlike the ten thousand dollars agreed upon in Muscat.
According to the Egyptian doctor, who explained to the investigative reporter that the recruits were forced to sign these documents under pressure and threats, the official salary of a conscript in the Russian army is about 36,000 rubles, but the war salary reaches 195,000 rubles. In contrast, the Yemenis received only 36,000 rubles, while the Russian recruiting company kept the rest of the money. According to the official procedures, the war wounded receive three million rubles, and the family of the deceased receives 12 million rubles, but the Russian company defrauds the Yemeni recruits according to the authorization signed by them.
The doctor also confirmed the existence of recruitment companies, run by retired Russian officers, that exploit foreign youth, including a company that recruited Yemenis through other companies in Yemen and Oman, and when they arrived in Moscow, they signed contracts in Russian, taking advantage of their ignorance of the law and the Russian language.
The doctor explains: “The company forces them to sign confidential documents without reading them, and prevents them from photographing them. When the recruits arrive, they are given bank cards with 1.9 million rubles, but the company withdraws 1.5 million rubles from them later, and the recruits cannot pursue them legally, because Yemeni intermediaries (Al-Jabri Company) facilitate the agreement with the Russian company.”
Through tracking and investigation, it was found that there is an old relationship between Abdulwali al-Jabri and the Houthi group, dating back to 2015, after the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa, where he allied with them during his command of the 115th Infantry Brigade, and handed over the camp’s equipment to Houthi militants, which was confirmed by a 2020 ruling by the military court in Marib, convicting Abdulwali al-Jabri.
Saleh al-Sammad, head of the Houthis’ so-called Supreme Political Council, visited him during his illness on November 19, 2017, but he left for Muscat in late 2018 on a United Nations plane to receive treatment there, only to return to Yemen in 2020. He repeatedly visited Oman via UN and Omani mediation planes, which transported Houthi delegations from Sana’a to Muscat.
Abdulwali al-Jabri was not the only member of his family with ties to the Houthis; his brother (Abdulwahid Abdo Hassan al-Jabri) works in the group’s intelligence service in Taiz governorate and was promoted among the officers of the Houthi-affiliated Ministry of Interior in 2018, and his other nephew (Jamil Hazaa Abdo Hassan al-Jabri) was appointed as a member of the group’s Shura Council in 2021.
In interviews with the families of missing Yemenis in Russia, the journalist documented the lack of knowledge about the fate of their sons.
Ali al-Dharasi, the brother of Abdulrahman al-Dharasi, one of the missing Yemeni conscripts in Russia, said: “My brother was working in a vegetable shop in Oman. He was deceived by the Al-Jabri company in Muscat, and they took advantage of his financial situation and told him that he would work in Russia in a vegetable farm, and that he would be eligible to take Russian citizenship and all his family, which made him go and hand over his passport to them.”
Abdulrahman’s brother continues that his brother met Al-Jabri personally in a remote area in Muscat, when he learned that he was going to go for conscription, especially since he is from the second batch, and asked Al-Jabri to return his passport, but he assured him that he would work on a vegetable farm, and threatened him that he would pay two thousand dollars for the cost of official transactions; if he insisted on his position.
Abdulrahman’s brother adds: “When he arrived in Russia, he was taken to camps like the rest of the youth, their phones were taken away, and contact with him was cut off until the day before the incident in which he went missing, when he contacted us and told us that they had been forced to undergo military training, and that he would go to fight the next day.”
On September 25, 2024, Abdulrahman lost contact with his brother after an armored vehicle he was in exploded in Ukrainian territory, but his body was not found, and his fate is unknown to this day, according to his brother.
Photos of the dead and their military numbers
Ali Nasser explains that the likelihood of the percentage of missing in captivity is very small, because the Ukrainians are only interested in capturing Russian soldiers and officers.
As for how Russian fighters are distinguished from others, Nasser says: “Red markings are placed on the shoulder and helmet of every non-Russian fighter, the same markings that appear in photos and videos of dead Yemeni conscripts during military operations.”
He adds that the Ukrainians do the same thing to distinguish their soldiers from foreign fighters. The Russian army distinguishes its fighters with white-colored markings, while the Ukrainian army distinguishes its soldiers with yellow-colored markings.
Yemeni authorities affiliated with the legitimate government, who control the Sarafit crossing between Yemen’s al-Mahra governorate and Oman, are trying to limit the entry of Yemeni youth into the Sultanate, where it is believed they will head to Russia.
On August 11, 2024, the authorities at the Sarafit crossing seized about 26 people who were on their way to Oman to travel to Russia; some of them had student travel visas to Russia, which were issued to them by Al-Jabri company, according to a document obtained by the journalist from the crossing authorities, a list of the names of those seized, in a file that was sent to the Yemeni Ministry of Interior.
Ministry of Interior document showing details of the seizure of 26 citizens on their way to Russia via Oman
Amjad Mohammed, who explained the methods of recruitment inside Yemen, decided not to travel to Russia at the last minute, despite having completed all the travel procedures. The journalist contacted people who had been coordinated to travel to Russia through the offices of Al-Jabri Company in the Yemeni province of Taiz.
According to Amjad, applicants apply at the Al-Jabri Company office in Taiz, individually or in groups, then passports are sent to Oman, and from there to Russia after they are assembled in Dubai.
On January 4, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to foreign citizens who have signed one-year contracts with the Russian army and the Ministry of Defense in order to attract more recruits from outside Russia to join the ranks of the Russian army or military formations.
The decree accelerates the acquisition of citizenship after six months of military service, which is one of the Russian government’s strategies to address the shortage of military human resources, especially during the current war in Ukraine.
While working on the investigation, a former Russian army officer contacted the journalist and asked him to provide her with the names and details of Yemeni conscripts in Russian camps, under the pretext of helping them obtain their rights.
The former “officer” asked for visa photos and passport photos, and confirmed that the Russian army pays eight thousand dollars for each recruit, and that she wants these details to help and follow up to give the recruits their rights, as it turned out later that her name is Paulina Alexandrova, and she also owns a recruitment company.
Alexandrova recruited 31 Yemenis on November 4, 2024. The investigative journalist obtained their passport photos from a source within the Yemeni community in Russia, who confirmed the arrival of these recruits in Moscow, their deportation to training camps inside Ukrainian territory, and that she is still recruiting through Yemeni intermediaries cooperating with her from inside Russian territory.
Passports of the last batch of recruits
Mohammed Amin al-Watiri, a researcher in international law and transitional justice, believes that Russia’s recruitment of fighters from different countries to fight in its ranks is a violation of international humanitarian law, which criminalizes the recruitment, financing or training of mercenaries, according to the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing or Training of Mercenaries, issued in December 1989.
He explains: “According to the convention, a person who fights in the territory of a country whose nationality he does not hold, and has no legal connection to it, for the purpose of achieving private goals, such as financial or other gains, is a mercenary, and is treated as a criminal, and does not enjoy any of the rights enjoyed by soldiers in armies, including being treated as prisoners of war if captured, in addition to losing protection and other rights guaranteed to combatants by international humanitarian law.”
He adds: “Another concern is that recruiting fighters from low-income, developing countries and exploiting their citizens’ need for money is linked to human trafficking, especially in cases where children under the age of 18 are recruited, which is criminalized by the 2000 UN Convention against Trafficking in Persons.”
Here is an image of the letter sent to the Yemeni embassy from the recruits to help them
Hundreds of Yemenis remain trapped in the ranks of the Russian army, appealing to the Yemeni government authorities to intervene to rescue them, including Sami, who is still wounded in one of the camps inside Ukrainian territory.
Sami adds: “By God, our situation is pitiful to be honest, our situation is very bad, we demand our exit, we want to return to our country, they laughed at us, cheated us and walked with us from the beginning of the process with deception and lies, unfortunately.”
We received a response from Ambassador Ahmed al-Wahishi, Yemen’s ambassador to Russia, in which he confirmed the follow-up of the story with the Russian side: “In accordance with the directives of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a meeting was held and a group of these citizens returned, and the embassy continues its efforts to serve the citizens.”
On November 10, 2024, Ghanam Yahya, a Yemeni soldier on a Russian front in Ukraine, shot himself in protest against the mistreatment he was subjected to by the Russian army, where he was physically assaulted for refusing military orders.
Ghanam was not the only one who shot himself in protest of the bad treatment he received, two other conscripts did the same in front of Russian commanders, after they were assaulted and humiliated.
This investigation was produced with the support of ARIJ
