The Telegraph: Russia lured African to war by promising him a job at a shampoo factory in Moscow
Russia has recruited 36-year-old Jean Onana from Cameroon to fight in the war against Ukraine, promising him a job at a shampoo factory in Moscow, The Telegraph reports, citing intelligence.
After losing his job, Onana was looking for a way to support his wife and three young children. As he later told Ukrainian investigators, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity to earn a good salary and in March bought a ticket to Moscow with his own money.
There he joined many other young Africans who travel to Russia in search of education or work.
Immediately upon arrival, Onana was detained along with ten other citizens from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. They were told that instead of working, they would have to sign a one-year contract to serve in the Russian army and go to war against Ukraine.
"Onana was one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Africans sent to the front lines. Some were recruited to work in factories to keep Russia's war machine running. Many ended up in the military through deception, coercion, or signing contracts under duress," the journalists note.
According to intelligence obtained by the publication, Africans are lured with promises of money or forced into service.
Onana, who was promised a high salary, was forced to sign a contract. He underwent five weeks of training in Rostov and Luhansk along with ten foreigners from Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Brazil.
During his training, he was allowed to call home, but before he was sent to the front, his phone and documents were taken away.
In early May, he and eight other soldiers were ordered to occupy a bunker. As a result of the shelling, everyone died except Onana, who was wounded and lay in the rubble for six days. He managed to get out, after which he was taken prisoner.
Another recently captured African, 25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal, told Ukrainian military officers that he was studying in Russia when he was approached by recruiters in a shopping mall.
They promised him a job washing dishes in Luhansk for $5,700 a month. But a week later, they gave him a gun, grenades, and a helmet and sent him to the front line near Toretsk.
"We started seeing dead people in the forest, many bodies in buildings. It made a strong impression on me," Diop recalls.
He later took off his uniform, left his weapon and deserted, but was captured two days later.
In some cases, men were detained at the airport and forced to sign military contracts.
According to a report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, the Russian company is also recruiting hundreds of young women – mostly from Africa – to work in the production of Iranian drones.
They were hired by a company in the Alabuga special economic zone (Yelabuga, east of Moscow), promising a good salary and the opportunity to study.
However, the women were not informed that they would not be working at a military facility.
- In recent years, the occupiers have been recruiting mercenaries from other countries in Africa and Asia. In 2024, the Ukrainian Center for National Resistance published a diagram of how the invaders recruit foreign students for the war against Ukraine .
- In the summer of the same year, a delegation from Sri Lanka held talks with the Russian Federation regarding its citizens who had joined the war on the side of the aggressor country .
- In October, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry appealed to mercenaries from Africa and the Middle East, whom Russia uses as "cannon fodder" in the war: they urged them to take advantage of the "I Want to Live" project and lay down their weapons with the Ukrainian Defense Forces .