Russia Hired African Farmers to Make Shampoo—Then Sent Them to War
Russia has been accused of exploiting desperate African migrants by luring them to Moscow with promises of factory jobs—only to forcibly recruit them into its military and send them to the front lines in Ukraine, The Gaze reports, citing The Telegraph.
Jean Onana, a 36-year-old father of three from Cameroon, was one of many who responded to an online advert claiming to offer well-paid work at a shampoo factory in Russia. Instead, upon arrival in March, he was detained and coerced into signing a contract to fight in President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Onana’s story is part of a growing pattern. According to intelligence reports and testimonies obtained by Ukrainian officials, hundreds—possibly thousands—of African migrants have been swept into Russia’s military ranks under false pretenses.
Some were students or job seekers from countries including Bangladesh, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Brazil. Others were lured into military-adjacent work such as drone manufacturing, unaware of the war-related risks involved.
After only five weeks of rushed training in Rostov and Luhansk, Onana was deployed to Ukraine’s eastern front. There, his unit was shelled in a bunker; he was the sole survivor. He later surrendered to Ukrainian forces, joining the small but growing list of captured foreign conscripts.
Another African migrant, 25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal, said he was promised a dishwashing job behind the lines for $5,700 a month. Instead, he was handed a rifle and sent straight to the front. “We started to see dead people in the forest. It really affected me,” Diop told Ukrainian interviewers before recounting how he deserted and was later captured after walking for two days.
The motivations for some are brutally pragmatic. With Cameroon’s basic military salary at around $85 per month, Russia’s offer of approximately $1,900 has become a deadly temptation. “They say it’s better for us to go to fight where we earn enough money to save something for our families,” said Raoul Sumo Tayo of the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria.
But the exploitation goes beyond the battlefield. A recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime exposed a Russian firm recruiting young African women to work in the Alabuga industrial zone, unknowingly manufacturing Iranian Shahed drones. Many were promised education and high salaries—but were never informed they were working in a military target zone.
Read more on The Gaze: Russia Exploits African Migrants in War Effort With Promises of Passports and Jobs