Kenyans among Africans duped into serving forced labour at Russian war factory

Fourteen Kenyan women are trapped in Russia working at a factory that makes arms being used in the war against Ukraine.

The factory is an enterprise based in the republic of Tatarstan set up to produce Iranian type kamikaze drones.

The women aged between 19 and 25 were duped into enrolling in what they thought was educational opportunities that would be followed by employment in Russian institutions through a program called Alabuga SEZ/ Start, that advertises through new media and the socials.

A quick hit through search engines shows that the program advertises in flowery language claiming to offer fully funded training and job opportunities. One pop-up through a search engine says Alabuga offers an opportunity to relocate to Russia with the possibility of earning 40 000 Russian rubbles which translates to Sh 52 000.

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The promotion says the Special Economic Zone Alabuga (Tatarstan, Russia) launched "Alabuga Start" for foreign students and young people from all over the world who want to relocate to Russia. The program claims to offer jobs in logistics, crane operators, welding, hospitality and other skills -oriented engagements. Training through a fully funded program, which includes learning Russian language, offer of accommodation and monthly allowance, a paid flight ticket to Russia, and voluntary health insurance are floated as benefits.

However according to Russian investigative outlet Protokol, which has been running anti-war stories online , Russia began using cheap suicide drones imported from Iran to attack Ukraine, striking civilian infrastructure and damaging food and electricity supplies. The country had to look for a way of manufacturing its own using cheap labour which would not be readily available on its own soil.

 In November 2023, reported the outlet, Russia struck a deal to manufacture drones with Iranian help at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tatarstan, a republic in western Russia. Facing manpower shortages, Russia got into recruiting foreign nationals to staff the zone’s drone factory, including young women and girls from African countries.

The Protokol expose said workers at Alabuga Start come from at least 30 countries, largely African. One hundred eighty two women entered the programme in early 2024, many from Africa. This included Uganda (46), Kenya (14), Nigeria (14), South Sudan (14), Rwanda (14), and Sri Lanka (10). There were also joiners from Zambia (4), Ethiopia (6), Ghana (2), Malawi (2), Mozambique (1), South Africa (6), Tanzania (4), and Zimbabwe (4).

In an opinion article to The Standard, Ukrainian ambassador to Kenya Andrii  Pravednyk writes  about Russia using suicide drones on Ukraine. Pravdnyk writes “from our air defense system monitoring apps, at least 1,455 air raid alarms have gone off since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. More are still expected”

The ambassador adds that the attacks against civilians were repeated on January 1, 2025, when at least 100 missiles and kamikaze drones were sent towards Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. While most of the missiles were contained by the air defense system, at least one hit a civilian building in the city and two people were killed.

Voice of America reported that the weapons raining on Ukraine are manufactured through what is turning out to be forced labour where workers are netted through methods of entrapment.

Protokol’s research, said the recruitment is deceptively done which amounts to human trafficking. It adds that the recruits are, mistreated, and end up losing their rights to leave.

Recruitment at Alabuga, investigations by international media has revealed, is part of wider Russian exploitation of foreigners from developing countries.

Russia consistently recruits vulnerable foreigners for its war in Ukraine. In 2024, for example, around 2,000 Nepali men went to fight in Ukraine, most likely due to their very poor living circumstances and the need for money. They were forced to pay thousands of dollars to travel and join the recruitment – the average monthly Nepali salary is less than $200 – and then treated “like dogs” when they arrived and sent into battle to die ahead of Russian fighters. Some Nepali recruits who tried to escape were caught and badly beaten by Russian soldiers. At least 21 Nepali citizens have died fighting for Russia, and Moscow has said nothing about repatriating the dead.

Recruitment at Alabuga is part of a wider programme of exploitation of young Africans. Russia, and the Russian backed private military company Wagner (now ‘Africa Corps’), have a track record of deceptively recruiting young African men for their war on Ukraine. One Zambian, 23-year-old Lemekhani Nyirenda and one Tanzanian, 37-year-old Nemes Tarimo, were imprisoned in Russia on flimsy drugs charges, offered release if they fought for Wagner, and died fighting in Ukraine.

Sergey Podystnik, editor of independent Russian outlet Protokol which first broke the story, said those working at Alabuga are forced to use toxic manufacturing materials. Eighteen participants in an affiliated scheme at the site, the Alabuga Composite Program, have complained about inadequate protection. Nineteen other students said they developed allergic reactions to resin used, 20 even developing severe itching and “small holes” in their cheeks.  An engineer who inspected the SEZ noted a dangerous lack of safety equipment. He said African girls suffer racism and sexism.

Both in-person and online, female African recruits are repeatedly degraded and patronized, reports indicate;  Official Alabuga SEZ documentation refers to African women as “mulattoes”.  Originally used to denote a person of mixed black and white descent, the term is highly racist in English, often offensive, in Russian. SEZ officials use racial terminology to separate out African women. African and South Asian women on Alabuga Start wear a distinct and infantilising ‘schoolgirl’ uniform – at Alabuga Polytechnic white male students have no uniform – and are allocated low-skilled tasks.