many were deceived with false promises

Vladimir Putin He needs soldiers and is looking for them in Africa. Russia has recruited at least 1,000 Kenyan citizens to fight in Ukraine, a figure that confirms the scenes spread on social networks, in which Russian troops laugh at their new comrades in arms, whom they say will be used as “cannon fodder.”

According to a report by the Kenyan National Intelligence Service (NIS) presented to the African country’s Parliament, many of these recruits were deceived by agents who promised them well-paid jobs in security and logistics abroad.

“The agencies have been luring Kenyans by promising lucrative conditions of service, such as salaries of around Sh300,000 a month (about 2,000 euros) y generous bonuses between 900,000 (about 5,900 euros) and 1.2 million shillings (about 7,900 euros), in addition to granting them Russian citizenship,” said the majority leader of the National Assembly (Lower House), Kimani Ichung’wahin charge of disseminating the report.

The deputy explained that these agencies take advantage of the “high unemployment and desperation” of the young people of the African country, and that they recruit them through social networks or work and travel agencies such as Global Face Human Resourcesdirected by Kenyan Omwamba festivalo Talent Shepherd Agency.

Recruitment campaigns focus on men between 20 and 50 years old, among whom are not only civilians, but also former police officers and ex-military personnel who “are desperate for opportunities” abroad.

Furthermore, these agencies would have been colluding with airport staff at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), with agents from the Immigration Directorate, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the National Employment Authority, to facilitate the departure of the recruits.

Most of the new recruits they use transit visas towards Turkey or the United Arab Emirates (UAE), although the increase in interceptions in Kenya has caused many of them to move first to destinations such as Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or South Africa, while others were already in the diaspora.

Minimum training

The document also highlights that the training lasts between nine days and three weeks, something that “no Army in the world does,” which means that “they are basically giving them a weapon to go and die” on the battlefront.

Ichung’wah reported that currently 39 Kenyans are hospitalized, 30 have been repatriated, 28 are missing, 35 are deployed in camps, 89 are on the front line, one is detained and another has completed the contract.

The victims who have managed to return, often mutilatedthey have achieved this with the help of the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow.

Last Monday, Kenya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Stay Mudavadiannounced that next March he will travel to Moscow to address precisely this issue.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the presence of hundreds of Africans fighting on the Russian side. Although some do so voluntarily as mercenaries, others have reported deception and coercion.

Ukraine has revealed that citizens of countries such as Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka, among others, are captured in Ukrainian camps, although most of them die or are seriously injured beforehand.

The South African Government has acknowledged at least 17 of its citizens were deceived with false offers of work or security training in Russia who ended up as mercenaries in Donbas, in support of Russian forces.

These men signed contracts in Russian after arriving in Rostov-on-Don and were sent to the front to dig trenches and fight, they told journalists and their families.

The case has led to investigations in South Africa for possible violation of the law that prohibits its citizens from providing military assistance unauthorized to foreign States or mercenary groups.