Faith Nyasuguta
Russia is compelling thousands of African migrants and students to join its military efforts against Ukraine, according to assessments by European officials. This recruitment drive is part of Russia’s strategy to bolster its forces for the offensive in the Kharkiv region.
Bloomberg reports that Russian officials have threatened to deny visa renewals to African migrant workers and students unless they enlist in the Russian Armed Forces. Some African workers have faced threats of deportation if they refuse to fight in Ukraine, according to a European official. In response, some have resorted to bribing Russian authorities to avoid conscription.
This practice of pressuring migrants and students into military service is not new, as another European official noted that it dates back to earlier phases of the war. Russia’s reliance on attrition warfare has led it to increasingly draw on its prison population to sustain its war efforts.
In October, Russia’s Deputy Justice Minister Vsevolod Vukolov stated that the country’s prison population had dropped to a historic low of 266,000, down from 420,000 before the war, according to The Washington Post. This decrease is attributed to the high casualty rates among conscripted prisoners, who are often deployed in dangerous offensive operations to protect more highly trained units.
The recruitment of inmates has been so extensive that Russia has begun closing some of its prisons.
Reports citing Ukrainian intelligence suggest that Russia has launched a global recruitment campaign to enlist foreign mercenaries from at least 21 countries, including several in Africa. Recruitment efforts have included offers of lucrative signing bonuses and salaries for those willing to join as contract soldiers.
Recruiters have also targeted migrants and students who initially came to Russia for employment, sometimes luring them with promises of well-paid work before coercing them into military service.
The UK Ministry of Defence reported that the Russian military suffered its highest casualty rate of the war in May, losing more than 1,200 personnel per day. Since the invasion began, Russia has reportedly experienced around 500,000 casualties, including both killed and wounded personnel. However, Bloomberg has been unable to independently verify these figures.
During a meeting with foreign media in St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin implied that about 10,000 Russian troops are killed or wounded each month, and claimed that Ukrainian losses are five times higher.
This assertion aligns with reports from last year, which indicated that the mercenary group Wagner had recruited several African citizens as part of a campaign to enlist convicts from Russian prisons for its forces in Ukraine. Reuters traced the stories of three men from Tanzania, Zambia, and the Ivory Coast who were recruited in this manner.
According to Yevgeny Primakov, head of Rossotrudnichestvo, an organization dedicated to promoting Russian knowledge abroad, there are currently 35,000 to 37,000 African students in Russia. This sizable population of students provides a pool from which Russia continues to draw for its military needs, using coercive tactics to supplement its forces in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
RELATED:
