A Chinese mercenary who was killed on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
His name is Zhao Rui. Before he died, Zhao Rui posted a video advising everyone not to go to the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the Russian army does not treat mercenaries as human beings at all. Zhao Rui went to Donbass and only survived for 2 weeks in total. In the first week, a video was posted, and in the second week, people were gone.
On November 6, Zhao Rui was still receiving reintegration training in Russia. On November 16, Zhao Rui was already on the battlefield in Wudong and was trapped for 6 days. This was his first time on the Russian-Ukrainian front line, and the entire squad was almost wiped out, but Zhao Rui was lucky and escaped. On November 20, Zhao Rui was transferred to the rear to recuperate from his injuries and recuperated for almost a week. On November 29, Zhao Rui went to the front line for the second time, but he was killed by a drone of the Ukrainian army.
On the whole, Zhao Rui's survival time on the battlefield did not exceed 2 weeks. From Zhao Rui's experience, it can be seen that the tactics of the Russian army are very simple and crude, that is, infantry charge. First the infantry fighting vehicles are dispatched to transport an infantry squad to the battlefield, and then the infantry dismounts and disperses forward. At this time, the Ukrainian army on the opposite side detected it, dispatched drones, and killed them one by one. Unable to fight, the infantry retreated, infantry fighting vehicles provided long-range fire support, and the rescue infantry withdrew. Why don't you hide inside the infantry fighting vehicle and rush? Because that would be more dangerous, the tank will be blown up and one piece will die.
In order to minimize the casualties of the Russian army, Russia has recruited a large number of mercenaries around the world, including formed Chinese mercenaries in northern Myanmar, Nepalese Gurkha mercenaries for $500/month, and mercenaries from India, Syria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the West. You read that right, there are Western mercenaries fighting for the Russian army.
Most of these mercenaries came from poor areas and earned their lives by working hard. Among them, the highest proportion is still in Russian prisons, and Wagner has recruited 40,000 prisoners. Mercenaries have never been the "killing gods" in TV dramas, and in the real Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, mercenaries are basically used as cannon fodder. The biggest purpose of the Russian army's recruitment of mercenaries is to reduce the casualties of the Russian defense forces and suppress the anti-war sentiment in Russia. Therefore, all tasks that can make mercenaries work for their lives are prioritized for mercenaries.
The most notable example was the Battle of Bakhmut, where the Russian Defense Forces were mainly responsible for shelling the perimeter, and the street fighting was all handed over to Wagner mercenaries, who organized a death charge of prison prisoners. 50,000 Wagner mercenaries, after the battle of Bakhmut, killed more than 20,000, half of them were lost. Even so, Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenaries, was arranged for an accidental crash, in which all the commanders were killed.
This is really taking your life to make money, and not spending your life. Zhao Rui is not the first Chinese to die on the battlefield of Russia and Ukraine, the first Chinese man to die is named Wu Min, 33 years old, after he joined Wagner, he died a few days after entering the battlefield. But Wu Min is different from Zhao Rui, Wu Min committed a crime in Russia and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He went to war to clear his criminal record.
Many people think that war is not so terrible. At the beginning, when the Russian-Ukrainian war first broke out, many people clamored to join Wagner and make a fortune as mercenaries. It's really the state that protects you so well that you don't even know what war is. Is it really worth it to go to Russia to join the mercenaries and earn a sum of money? Today, the captain will settle an account for everyone.
An ordinary Wagner soldier has a monthly salary of about 240,000 rubles, which is converted into about 18,600 yuan, and the minimum service contract is 6 months, with a total of 111,600 yuan. If he dies in battle, a one-time pension of 5 million rubles, equivalent to about 387,500 yuan, will be paid. People like Zhao Rui served for 1 month and died in battle, with a comprehensive income of 406,100 yuan. This is the price of a mercenary surviving on the battlefield in Ukraine for 1 month.
We calculate according to the monthly salary, go to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to deliver takeaways, be diligent, and it is not difficult to earn 10,000 yuan a month. After all, this is not life-threatening, and there is no need to sell your life. In the event of a mining accident in the event of a mining accident, the one-time death compensation standard is 20 times the per capita disposable income of urban residents nationwide. In 2022, this figure is 49,000, multiplied by 20 times, which is 980,000.
Mining coal is much more profitable than fighting a war. From ancient times to the present, mercenaries are basically poor outlaws. The poorer the place, the easier it is to give birth to mercenaries. Like the world-famous Gurkha mercenaries, the average salary per person is only 500 US dollars per month. Why are you willing to work with such a small amount of money? Because the per capita monthly salary in Nepal is only 600 yuan, and according to Wagner's standard salary, 18,600 yuan is 31 times higher.
Why are the Chinese in northern Burma willing to join the Russian mercenaries? It is also because they are so poor, on a par with Nepal. In order to reduce the number of innocent Nepalese killed, the Nepalese government has also specifically asked Russia to repatriate Nepalis and prohibit Nepalis from going to Russia to join mercenaries. For the Chinese, it is more cost-effective to have a class than to go to the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield to work hard.
Another meaning of mercenaries is that they are cannon fodder troops who are dead and no one cares. It is better to go to Russia as a mercenary than to work as a security guard in China. People who make money with their lives often have no lives to spend.