Young African men desperate for work are being lured to Russia with promises of jobs and money, only to find themselves forced onto the front lines of the war in Ukraine, according to an investigation by Deutsche Welle.
The report documents a pattern of deception spanning multiple African nations, where recruiters promise construction work, security positions, or educational opportunities in Russia. Instead, recruits arrive to find themselves pressed into military service for a war they never agreed to fight.
"This is economic desperation being weaponized by global powers," said Dr. Fatima Kyari, a security analyst at the University of Lagos. "Young men from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and other countries are being treated as disposable labor for someone else's conflict."
The investigation reveals that recruiters typically target men in their twenties and thirties from communities facing high unemployment. They offer contracts promising salaries of several hundred dollars per month, far exceeding what many could earn at home. Some are told they'll be working in factories or on construction sites. Others are promised spots in Russian universities.
The reality is starkly different. Upon arrival in Russia, many recruits report having their passports confiscated. They're given cursory military training, sometimes lasting only days, before being deployed to combat zones in eastern Ukraine. Those who resist face threats, detention, or worse.
"We're seeing the same playbook that's been used to exploit African labor for centuries," Dr. Kyari noted. "The promise of opportunity abroad, the removal of documentation, the coercion once you're trapped in a foreign country. The only difference is the endpoint is a war zone instead of a plantation."
Several African governments have issued warnings to their citizens about fraudulent recruitment schemes, but the scale of the problem remains difficult to quantify. Russia does not publish data on foreign fighters in its military, and many families of missing recruits have no way to contact their relatives or confirm their whereabouts.
The DW investigation includes accounts from men who managed to escape and return home, as well as testimony from families still searching for sons and brothers who vanished after accepting what they believed were legitimate job offers.
Ukraine's military intelligence has previously reported capturing African fighters among Russian forces, though exact numbers remain unclear. What is clear is that these men are among the most vulnerable soldiers on the battlefield, often placed in assault units with the highest casualty rates.
"When we talk about 'cannon fodder,' we mean soldiers who are considered expendable," explained Colonel James Wafula, a retired Kenyan military officer now working as a defense consultant. "These recruits have no investment from their command, minimal training, and are being used to absorb casualties that Russia doesn't want its own citizens to take."
The issue highlights broader questions about Russia's recruitment practices as the war drags into its third year and domestic support for mobilization remains politically fraught. Turning to impoverished communities in the Global South offers Moscow a way to sustain its military campaign without imposing the political costs of mass conscription at home.
African Union officials have called for member states to strengthen oversight of labor migration and to work with international partners to prosecute those involved in fraudulent recruitment. But with economic conditions deteriorating across much of the continent, the pool of vulnerable young men susceptible to such schemes shows no signs of shrinking.
"This isn't going to stop until we create real opportunities at home," Dr. Kyari said. "As long as there's a vast gap between what someone can earn in Lagos or Kampala and what they're promised in Russia, there will be people desperate enough to take the risk. The tragedy is that the promise is a lie, and the risk is your life."
54 countries, 2,000 languages, 1.4 billion people. They deserve better than to be treated as expendable.
