Foreign fighters risk dragging Canada/NATO into battle: expert

“Moscow representatives have already said they’re going to treat them as mercenaries, not prisoners of war,” author and officer Tyler Wentzell

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Canadians volunteering to help Ukrainian forces fight invading Russian soldiers could be taking on big risks to themselves and to the country if things go sideways, says a military expert.

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“There’s tremendous risk to the Canadians who want to go.  Most of them are pretty obvious,” said Tyler Wentzell, a Canadian military officer, historian, and lawyer.

“At some point in this conflict, we’re going to have dead or wounded Canadians in Ukraine, and we’re also likely going to have captured Canadians.”

Involvement of citizens from NATO countries could be used by the Kremlin to escalate what is already an international crisis.

“Those captured Canadians: Moscow representatives have already said they’re going to treat them as mercenaries, not prisoners of war,” said Wentzell, who works at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

“They’ll be trotted out as evidence of NATO’s involvement in the conflict.  That’s a huge risk.”

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An unknown number of Canadians — with and without military experience — have been stepping up to volunteer.

Ali, 20, a student at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax, who did not wish to share his last name,  said he reached out to Ukrainian officials with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to volunteer.

“Knowing how the Russians are in history, I figured I could at least help defend civilians or at least be a supply runner for those on the front line,” said Ali, who has no military experience.

He is still awaiting word about travelling there.

“It may be life-threatening at times, but it would be worth it to at least help. To be there.”

As of Monday, the Ukrainian government said it has already attracted some 16,000 people from around the world to its International Legion of Defence of Ukraine.

Wentzell said the number of foreign fighters and foreign recruits could increase substantially because of how easy it is to travel to the region.

“There are a lot of people who might not have otherwise thought through each of the risks, who could just ‘get there’,” he said.

“The effect is that it ties the states of origin of all those volunteers — it ties us to the story.”

Wentzell  — an expert on Canada’s past attempts to deal with instances of foreign fighters through legislation and policing — said 1,700 Canadians volunteered to fight during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-39.