Russia has sent around 10,000 naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine, a top official said on Thursday, adding that some had chosen to leave the country rather than face being enlisted.
Moscow has been accused of pressuring Central Asian migrants to join its armed forces amid an intense recruitment drive to boost troop numbers for its military offensive on Ukraine.
The head of Russia鈥檚 Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said that Russia was cracking down on migrants who had received Russian citizenship but were not registering with military authorities.
鈥榃e have caught more than 30,000 who had received citizenship but did not want to register for military service and put them on the list,鈥� he said, referring to a database of men who could be eligible to be drafted.
鈥楢lready around 10,000 have been sent to the zone of the special military operation,鈥� he said, using Russia鈥檚 official language for its Ukraine campaign.
Millions of migrant workers, mostly from Central Asia, live in Russia, many doing low-paid jobs and living in poor conditions in order to send their salaries to families back home.
Facing labour shortages, Russia has made it easier for them to obtain Russian citizenship in recent years.
Russian citizenship is an attractive proposition to many as it significantly reduces the bureaucracy associated with living and working in the country.
But it also obliges migrants to register with military authorities and, if called up, to serve in the army.
Bastrykin said that some had started 鈥榮lowly leaving鈥� amid an intensification of inspections.
Anti-migrant attitudes are also running high in Russia after a terror attack on a Moscow city concert hall that killed more than 140 in March.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has asked Russia to allow its former soldiers fighting in Moscow鈥檚 war against Ukraine to return home voluntarily, the government said Thursday.
An official delegation held two days of talks in Moscow this week where it called for compensation for 17 Sri Lankans killed in fighting, Colombo鈥檚 foreign ministry said in a statement.
Sri Lanka鈥檚 parliament set up a bipartisan inquiry last month to track at least 2,000 veterans who reportedly enlisted mainly on the Russian side of the war.
At least one former soldier has been killed after joining Ukrainian forces, according to Sri Lankan authorities.
The ministry said two days of talks in Moscow focused on tracking Sri Lankans deployed as soldiers, supporting those reportedly wounded and efforts to track those missing.
State minister for foreign affairs Tharaka Balasuriya, who led the delegation to Moscow, raised the possibility of voluntary returns, early termination of contracts and regularisation of remuneration, the ministry said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that he believes France will keep up its battlefield support, regardless of the outcome of French polls expected to see a surge for the Ukraine-sceptic far right.
Zelensky added he was confident that, whatever the composition of France鈥檚 next government, it would be pro-European and independent from Russian influence.
The snap polls called by French president Emmanuel Macron 鈥� now one of Ukraine鈥檚 most prominent advocates in Europe 鈥� have raised the possibility of significant far-right gains.
