Drawn by rumours on social media, Ethiopian young men and old, many with their military records in hand, are queuing up at the Russian embassy with hopes of fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
The queues formed early each morning outside the embassy in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
What began as a trickle of volunteers swelled over two weeks to scores, two neighbourhood residents said, Reuters reports.
On Tuesday, several hundred men registered with Ethiopian security guards outside the embassy. The guards recorded their names and asked for proof of military service.
A man who came out of the embassy and addressed the volunteers in Russian through an interpreter said Russia had enough forces for now, but that they would be contacted when they were needed.
The Russian embassy did not respond to questions from Reuters about the man’s identity or whether Russia was deploying Ethiopian volunteers to Ukraine.
It issued a statement later on Tuesday saying that it was not recruiting fighters, and that the Ethiopians who showed up outside were well-wishers expressing “solidarity and support for the Russian Federation”.
The Ethiopian foreign ministry welcomed the Russian statement for what it called “refuting the unfounded reports of recruitment for the Russian Armed Forces”.
Ethiopia has called on all sides in the war to exercise restraint and did not vote on a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine which Russia calls a “special military operation” to demilitarise the country.
