Lured to Russia by Promises of "High-Paying Jobs"
Forcibly Conscripted After Five Weeks of Military Training
Foreign media have reported that Russia is deceiving Africans with employment scams and forcibly sending them to the battlefield in Ukraine.
According to the British daily The Telegraph on the 9th (local time), Russia is reportedly recruiting job seekers from developing countries such as those in Africa through advertisements for positions at "shampoo factories," only to later deploy them to the Ukrainian front as members of the Russian military.
On the 7th (local time), soldiers of the assault unit from the 6th Independent Lysychansk Cossack Guards Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Russian Army are undergoing combat training. Photo by TASS Yonhap News
Jean Onana (36), a native of Cameroon, claimed that he went to Russia after seeing a job advertisement for work at a shampoo factory, but was then forcibly conscripted into the military. Captured as a prisoner of war by Ukrainian forces, he said he received five weeks of military training before being sent to the front lines. Onana reported that during his military training, there were about a dozen other foreigners from countries including Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Brazil.
Malick Diop (25), from Senegal, was studying in Russia when he was told he could earn $5,700 (about 772,000 KRW) per month working as a dishwasher, not as a combatant. However, after enlisting, he was assigned as a combat soldier to the front lines. He later deserted and was captured by Ukrainian forces.
The exact number of foreigners who have joined the Russian military through employment scams is unknown. However, it is reported that some foreigners have volunteered due to the prospect of higher wages. For example, a Cameroonian non-commissioned officer earns only 67 pounds (about 110,000 KRW) per month, but by joining the Russian military, the monthly pay rises to 1,500 pounds (about 2.6 million KRW). As cases of active-duty soldiers leaving the military to go to Russia increased, the Cameroonian government strengthened regulations on overseas travel for military personnel.
Russia is also mobilizing foreign women as laborers in munitions factories. On May 29, the British weekly The Economist reported that young women from Africa are being mobilized to produce suicide drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) in factories within Russia. According to the report, in the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia, hundreds of African women are assembling Iranian-made suicide drones in factories. Some of these women are reportedly under the age of 18.
When Ukrainian forces bombed a drone manufacturing plant in this area in April last year, several African female workers were injured. These women took the factory jobs believing they would receive high wages, but reportedly did not know that their workplace would become a target for Ukrainian attacks. The Economist also reported that job advertisements for Yelabuga posted on social media and Telegram are highly deceptive, and that the United Nations has warned that this could constitute human trafficking.
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