Feb 10, 2026, 9:57 p.mFeb 10, 2026, 9:57 p.m
Russian soldiers leave a rubber boat. (Archive image, December 2025)Image: keystone
Kenya’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kenya criticizes Russia for deceiving its nationals with promises of well-paid civilian jobs in Russia, only to be used as “cannon fodder” by the Russian army.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi on Tuesday announced a visit to Moscow in March after Kenyans forcibly recruited by the Russian army fell victim to recruitment networks.
Several media outlets had recently reported how hundreds of Kenyan men, often without any military background, were forced to sign contracts with the Russian army after arriving in Russia. They were then quickly sent to the front in Ukraine, where many of them died.
“There seems to be a pattern of luring people and letting them die,” complained Abraham Korir Sing’Oei. The Kenyan deputy foreign minister also spoke of an actual program to illegally recruit people of African descent to make them fighters in a world where they did not belong.
AFP spoke to four Kenyans who returned from Russia, three of whom were injured in the fighting. One had gone there because he thought he would become a salesman, two others hoped to become security guards, and the fourth was a top athlete.
All of them had been promised a monthly salary of between 920 and 2,400 euros in Russia by a recruitment agency in Nairobi. A fortune in Kenya, where many workers barely earn 100 euros a month.
“Shocking” situation
However, on the day of their arrival or the next day, the four men were forced to sign a contract with the Russian army, written in Cyrillic, which they did not understand. Then, after very little or no military training, they were sent to the front lines in Ukrainian territory.
Within a few weeks, three of them found themselves in the same place near Vovtchansk in the Kharkiv region, where a large field they had to cross was littered with bodies. Two of them saw almost their entire unit, including Kenyans and other African nationals, die within minutes under fire from Ukrainian drones.
Kenyan authorities in December estimated the number of Kenyans forcibly conscripted into the Russian army at around 200, a number that is most likely an underestimate, according to the four “returnees” interviewed by AFP.
Kiev announced in November that it had identified at least 1,436 citizens from 36 African countries in the ranks of the Russian army. (sda/afp)