Recruited via Telegram: The Testimony of a Macedonian Who Fought in Ukraine

Ljupco Bojcevski, 37, from Skopje, is the only prisoner in North Macedonia convicted of "participation in a foreign army."

He fought on the Russian side in the war in Ukraine.

He was sentenced to four years in prison, while the decision of the Criminal Court of North Macedonia states that he repented for the crime.

The Macedonian law banning citizens from participating in foreign armies was passed in 2014 to prevent them from going to conflicts in the Middle East.

So far, only people who joined the militant group, the Islamic State (ISIS), have been convicted.

Bojchevski is the first person in North Macedonia to be convicted for participating in the war in Ukraine, which began with its invasion by Russia in February 2022.

Despite Radio Free Europe's request, authorities in North Macedonia did not provide accurate data on the number of citizens who have participated or continue to participate in the war in Ukraine.

However, REL managed to obtain information about another confirmed case, which ended with a suspended sentence rather than imprisonment.

The institutions deny that there were organized recruitments from North Macedonia, saying that these are individual cases that have come with help from abroad, via the internet.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Skopje has called the Russian attack a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and has joined international sanctions against Moscow.

The road to Mariupol

Boychevski was convicted on May 13, 2025, of participating in a foreign war, after being recruited through a closed Russian group on the Telegram app.

At trial, he admitted guilt and expressed remorse for the crime.

Boychevski tells Radio Free Europe that he had long followed developments in Ukraine through online channels and that he had applied to go there as early as 2021.

Two years later, a Russian recruiter offered him the opportunity to join as a soldier.

He traveled from Skopje to Belgrade, then to Istanbul and Moscow.

According to the court file, on September 18, 2023, he left North Macedonia and five days later signed a contract for military service.

He says that all the arrangements – tickets, hotel and transfer to Mariupol – were made by the recruiter known as "Musa", whom he describes as a member of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

Boychevski says that "Musa" passed through many checkpoints all the way to Mariupol without documents.

REL, however, was unable to verify these claims.

His court file also includes a Russian electronic visa from 2023, which would have allowed him to enter Russian territory.

Boychevski was not alone.

Bojčevski did not go to war alone. His friend from Skopje, Toni Šegmanovski, was also with him.

The court case used 57 photos as evidence, taken from Bojchevski's phone.

One shows the wounded Shegmanovski, while two masked men stand over him.

Bojchevski tells REL that one of them was himself.

Shegmanovski died without facing justice.

He did not lose his life at the front, but was found dead after his return, in an abandoned house in the Aerodrom neighborhood of Skopje.

The event was recorded in the police bulletin on January 10, 2024.

According to the Macedonian Prosecutor's Office, it is not a violent death, but the details of the autopsy have not been made public.

After this “mysterious death,” data was found on Shegmanovski’s personal devices and phone that also linked him to Bojchevski – which prompted the start of investigations against him.