russia deceives foreigners into joining the war
russia is conducting large-scale recruitment of foreign nationals to fight against Ukraine through fictitious recruitment agencies and semi-criminal labor migration networks.
▫️ According to Western media, in 2025 the russian federation sent at least 18,000 citizens from 126 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to the front line. More than 3,300 of them have already been killed, while the average “life expectancy” of a newly recruited fighter is approximately 72 hours.
▫️ Over the past several months, a sharp increase in social media advertisements offering “jobs” in the russian army for foreign nationals has been recorded, indicating the systematic and mass nature of this recruitment.
▫️ Such recruitment often bears the hallmarks of human trafficking and violates international humanitarian law. Recruiters promise legal employment, high wages, and civilian positions. Recruits are made to sign contracts in russian, a language they do not understand, after which their passports are confiscated and they are sent to war.
At the same time, the kremlin is waging aggressive propaganda aimed at portraying russia as an “anti-colonial ally” of Africa and the Global South. In reality, moscow’s actions are the opposite: it exploits citizens of Global South countries as a resource for its war of aggression.
