Foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine paid up to $2,730 – Russia’s chief investigator

Foreign mercenaries, hired to fight for the Ukrainian side, are paid between 30,000 and 100,000 hryvnas ($820-2,734), Russia’s Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin told TASS on Monday.

"The investigation has obtained information that the Kiev regime, with the support of the collective West, encourages the participation of mercenaries in combat actions on the side of Ukraine, which is prohibited by international norms," he said in an interview with TASS.

"We have established their order of recruitment, training and participation in combat actions at the sum of bonus payments ranging between 30,000 and 100,000 hryvnias [between $820 and 2,734]," he said.

Bastrykin noted that foreigners, who arrive as volunteers to Ukraine, are often granted the Ukrainian citizenship under a simplified procedure and later join the Ukrainian military taking part in combat actions.