West Jakarta police name eight suspects in network recruiting Indonesians for Russia

Police in West Jakarta on Friday 13 November presented eight suspects accused of running an international network that recruited Indonesians to fight as mercenaries for Russia. The network signed up 23 Indonesians, police said, and 15 of them have already left for Russia on tourist visas.

The suspects are a Russian national identified by the initial S, a Ukrainian national identified as IM (also called Ivan or Ifan) and six Indonesians, according to detik and Antara. West Jakarta Metro Police chief Kombes Pol Nasriadi said none of the recruits had a military or police background. The investigation began with reports from families whose relatives had gone abroad saying they were looking for work, detik reported.

Who the network targeted

Nasriadi said the recruiters looked for people of working age under 50 who were in financial difficulty or tempted by large payments, according to Antara. "What matters is being healthy and under 50," he said, as quoted by detik.

Most recruits had previously worked as administrators for online gambling operations abroad, with Cambodia given as an example, Nasriadi said. Others were casual workers, unemployed people, private-sector employees, factory workers and day labourers.

Of the 23 people recruited, 15 travelled to Russia. The other eight were stopped by officers at airports or withdrew after learning of the dangers, police said.

Recruiting through partners at home

Police said the network relied heavily on Indonesian women whose boyfriends had already gone to Russia. According to Nasriadi, the first wave of Indonesians went on their own after responding to invitations on social media. After joining a private mercenary group in Russia, they were asked to recruit relatives or partners in Indonesia through an app, Antara reported.

The women were promised Rp5 million to Rp7.5 million for each person they recruited, and some said they took part to raise money for a wedding, Nasriadi said. Antara's reports, which CNN Indonesia also carried, name two of them: Niki, arrested in Bali, and Jali, arrested in Medan, who police say recruited at the request of boyfriends in Russia.

One Antara report contains a sentence saying Niki "is known to have died on the battlefield". The same report says Niki was arrested in Bali, so the sentence may refer to her boyfriend. Police have not clarified this in the material reviewed.

What each suspect is accused of doing

Police said the Russian suspect, S, travelled back and forth to Indonesia to oversee departures at the airport and make sure recruits boarded flights to Russia via Dubai, according to Antara.

IM is accused of booking hotels, handing out pocket money and providing a house in Pemalang, Central Java, for semi-military training, including physical exercise and handling weapons. Reports differ on the house. Antara describes it as IM's own home, while detik says he rented it with his wife.

Antara quoted Nasriadi as saying IM's wife, named as Ales and described as Indonesian, also recruited people and arranged lodging. Detik spells the name Alice in one report, and her nationality has not been stated consistently. Three other Indonesians from the same Pemalang village, Amel, Sevia (SA) and AMR, are accused of communicating with recruits and arranging accommodation.

Nasriadi pointed to the cooperation between a Russian and a Ukrainian. "Over there they are at war, but here they are both looking for and recruiting people," he said.

Detik also reported that police detained three Russian nationals at Soekarno-Hatta airport on 13 November, named one of them a suspect and handed the other two, identified as KS and FK, to immigration. The reports reviewed do not make clear whether that suspect is S or a ninth suspect.

Promised pay and life-long contracts

Recruits were promised salaries of up to Rp50 million a month, detik reported. Police said the contracts were not for one year, as recruiters described, but "for life", according to detik. Antara reported the same finding as contracts running until the recruit is killed.

TribunJakarta reported that one Indonesian recruit was forced to keep fighting after a leg was amputated following a landmine injury. That account could not be checked against the other reports reviewed.

Police describe the recruits as joining a private mercenary group. Their statements do not explain how that group relates to Russia's regular armed forces.

Other cases under investigation

The West Jakarta case is separate from investigations by Bareskrim, the national police criminal investigation agency. Antara separately reported that Bareskrim had stopped three Indonesians from leaving to become mercenaries for Russia. Further details of that case were not available in the material reviewed.

Several Indonesian and Ukrainian outlets also reported this week that Ukraine had captured an Indonesian man fighting for Russia, and that Indonesia's Foreign Ministry had responded. The details of that case, including the man's identity and how he was recruited, have not been verified for this article.