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ABSTRACT
This study examines mobilization motives of Belarusian volunteers participating in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. With an objective to provide an additional explanation as to why individuals mobilize to fight in armed conflicts outside their countries of citizenship, we demonstrate that the pursuit of political objectives in foreign fighters’ home countries may function as an important – yet largely overlooked in the extant literature – mobilization incentive. The need to obtain military training and combat experience required to achieve those political goals may serve as an accompanying motive of becoming a foreign fighter. We draw our empirical data from in-depth ethnographic interviews with members of Belarusian armed formations involved in frontline operations in Ukraine. Alongside its contribution to the understudied topic of Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine, this study has broader implications for research on mobilization motives and objectives of foreign fighters.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. See here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6iAXiudpLI.
2. While the Azov Battalion is associated with right-wing tendencies of some of the commanders and combatants, and instances of right-wing and nationalist symbolism were observed, ideological considerations were not observed as reflected in motivations or reasons for joining combat or the Azov Battalion specifically.
3. A pejorative term for the rulers of the Russian Empire.
4. The Belarusian House (Bilaruski Dom Varshava Citation2022) registered as an NGO in April 2012. It has been a center of the Belarusian diaspora in Poland that supports representatives of civil society in Belarus and is concerned with dissemination of information, support in education, and support for their human rights. It has also promoted networking with Poland and neighboring countries for the purpose of developing democratic institutions towards an open civil society in Belarus. Since 2014, the House has also been supporting Belarusians fighting on the side of Ukraine.
5. The two groups merging into the Belarusian Volunteer Corps were first known by their call signs, Yanki and Bessmertny.
6. The idea underlying both initiatives is uniting men capable of partisan activities, resisting the riot police, or protecting protesters from within Belarus.