The Russian embassy in Addis Ababa issued a statement saying that it “does not recruit fighters, and that the Ethiopians who lined up outside the embassy building are loving people expressing solidarity with and support for the Russian Federation.”
The Ethiopian government welcomed the Russian statement, saying that it “refutes the baseless reports of recruitment for the Russian armed forces.”
In an eye-catching scene, Ethiopians queue early every morning in front of the Russian embassy in Addis Ababa.
And rumors circulated on social media, of great pay and a job opportunity after the war, for Ethiopians volunteering to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine.
Two residents of the neighborhood where the embassy is located told “Reuters”, “The number of volunteers was few at first, but they became in the dozens.”
The Ukrainian embassy in Addis Ababa referred questions to the Ethiopian government about the nature of these gatherings.
Ethiopia had called on all parties to the war to exercise restraint, and had not voted in the United Nations General Assembly on a draft resolution condemning the Russian war in Ukraine.
But many in Ethiopia expressed solidarity with Russia, which has had strong ties with Addis Ababa since Soviet times.
And rumors of a $2,000 volunteer salary and a chance to work in post-war Russia fanned the imaginations of some queuing people.
Armed conflicts plague many parts of Ethiopia, and the annual inflation rate in the country is close to 30 percent.
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