Russia’s Health Ministry has asked regional health authorities to recruit doctors and nurses to work in Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine, according to an internal document published Thursday by journalist Dmitry Kolezev.
Regional health officials are asked to provide at least 10 people from each region for “saving lives and people’s health” in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to the document dated last week.
The Kremlin claims to have annexed these four regions following referendums in the fall that were widely condemned as a sham.
At least 200 doctors from Russia’s capital Moscow were also working in shifts in hospitals in Donetsk and Luhansk, the Moscow Mayor’s office said in November.
Specialists from Moscow, including surgeons, anesthesiologists and traumatologists, performed over 3,500 surgeries and took around 11,000 patients as of November, Moscow’s authorities said.
Russian authorities previously launched a campaign to recruit essential workers for the “reconstruction” of eastern Ukrainian territories occupied by its forces and devastated by the war.