Kurdistan Region family awaits son missing after joining Russian army

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A family from the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province told Rudaw they have been waiting for news of their missing son for six months after learning he joined the Russian army, one of hundreds believed to have left the country to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Hussein Tawfiq, a sanitation worker, has been searching for answers since his 26-year-old son, Bahadin, left the Region without saying where he was going. Three days after his disappearance, Bahadin contacted his father, three sisters, and two brothers, saying he was in Russia, without revealing his exact location.

“I urged him, ‘Bahadin, don't go’ … But he left anyway. If he hadn't been deceived, if they hadn't tricked him, how would this young man have ended up in Russia? They say he’s gone to Russia,” Tawfiq said.

In the last video Bahadin sent his family, shortly after his arrival, he appeared to be walking in a forest, saying “here we are, walking around in slippers and [military uniforms] during training.”

Bahadin’s sister, Zhian Hussein, said the last time she saw him, he told her he was “traveling abroad; I’ve been hired by a company in a certain country for a year. I might not be back for a year. If they aren't satisfied with me, they’ll send me back after the year is up.”

According to the Association of Returned Migrants from Europe to the Kurdistan Region, more than 100 young men from the Region have gone to the front lines since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, often with promises of high salaries and citizenship.

“They left their homeland, swept up by the lies of gangs that transport our youth to Russia, and some to Ukraine. They are promised residency through military service and a monthly salary of $2,500,” said Bakr Ali, head of the association.

Tawfiq relayed a message to his son, saying “Bahadin, if you are alive, talk to me. Tell me you’re alive, even if you’re in some prison. And if you’re no longer with us, let someone inform us so we can bring him home and bury him in his homeland.”

In February, Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said in a statement that the Iraqi government has decided to tighten legal and security measures against citizens who join foreign militaries, particularly those involved in the Russia-Ukraine war.

In late December, he said that “hundreds of Iraqis” are fighting in the conflict.

Kyiv’s ambassador to Iraq, Ivan Dovhanich, told Rudaw around the same time that the Ukrainian authorities are working “closely” with their Iraqi counterparts to address the recruitment of Iraqi citizens by Russia.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s ambassador to Baghdad Elbrus Kutrashev said in November that “while such cases do exist, they are individual and numbered, not on a large scale as some try to portray.”

“I must thank the Iraqi citizens who have taken a supportive stance toward Russia,” he added, noting that his country “did not recruit them - they came voluntarily.”

He further explained that while the exact number of volunteers is not available, visas had been issued for “the relatives of those killed - who went to receive the bodies of their loved ones - perhaps three or four times.”