JOHANNESBURG – Four South African men lured into fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine returned home on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said.

Their arrival comes days after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on the return of South Africans caught up in the Ukraine war.

It was not immediately clear if the four were part of a group of 17 men the presidency previously said it was trying to bring home.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) showed the men arriving at Johannesburg’s main airport before they were escorted to a police holding area.

The presidency told AFP that the “process to secure the release of the men” was still ongoing.

Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said the authorities could not confirm the timeframe for the arrival of the remaining men, as it depended entirely on Russia. The men worked for private security companies in Russia rather than reporting directly to the Russian army, he told the SABC.

“They will allow them to come back when their contracts are cancelled there in Russia,” he said, adding that they had agreed “that most of them will come bit by bit”.

Locating the group “was a challenging process” and conditions remained difficult for those still on the front line, he said. “The Russian government is only assisting us with their return and that really complicates the situation,” Lamola said.

“The only thing we can say is that they were lured, indeed, under false pretence, and that is the subject of a police investigation.”

A family member told the SABC that 11 other men,  including one who had lost his leg were travelling by bus from Ukraine to Russia and were expected back in South Africa at the weekend.

In November, Pretoria said it had received “distress calls” from 17 men who were trapped in the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being tricked into joining mercenary groups. 

– Nampa/AFP