Kenya FM to visit Russia over forced conscripts in Ukraine

Kenya said Tuesday its foreign minister would go to Moscow next month after condemning recruiters luring Kenyans to Russia with promises of lucrative jobs, only to end up fighting alongside its forces.

Mounting reports in recent weeks indicate that Kenyans, deceived into travelling for high-paying work in Russia, are dying on the battlefield or suffering serious wounds.

An AFP investigation published this week revealed the web of deception into which four men with no military background fell — forced to sign contracts with the Russian army and swiftly sent to the front lines in Ukraine.

“We have seen loss of lives, and I am planning to make a visit to Moscow so that we can emphasise that this is something that needs to be arrested,” Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said in a statement.

The four, three of whom returned wounded, were given contracts written in Russian.

One had expected to work as a salesman, two as security guards and the fourth as a high-level athlete.

In December, Kenyan authorities said around 200 citizens had been sent to fight in Ukraine, but the four said the figure was underestimated.

Mudavadi said he would also pursue the release of Kenyans held as prisoners of war in Ukraine and “verify” the condition of those hospitalised.

He said more than 30 Kenyans had been evacuated from Russia over the past two months and unscrupulous recruitment agencies in the east African country had been shut down.

“It looks like there’s a pattern for luring people and having them die,” junior foreign minister Korir Sing’Oei told AFP, adding that it was “unacceptable”.

“These individuals are used as cannon fodder on the war front… No Kenyan would voluntarily enter into that kind of engagement,” Sing’Oei said.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said in November that more than 1,400 citizens from 36 African countries had been identified among the Russian ranks.

Return process

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held talks on Tuesday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on returning South Africans also lured into fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine.

The South African government said in November it had received “distress calls” from 17 men, who were trapped in the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being tricked into joining mercenary forces.

“President Ramaphosa and President Putin pledged their support to the process of returning South Africans fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine,” the president’s office said in a statement.

“In this regard, teams from both sides will continue their engagements towards the finalisation of this process,” it said.

The daughter of South African former president Jacob Zuma is among several accused of recruiting men to join Russian mercenaries in the Ukraine war.