<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/26/african-men-tricked-into-fighting-ukraine-for-russia>
"Stephen Oduor was looking forward to starting his new job as a plumber in
Russia to support his family after months of unemployment. But soon after
landing in St Petersburg from Nairobi with six other Kenyans one afternoon last
August, he started feeling something was off.
The man who received them at the airport drove them to a house where their
luggage was taken away and they were given black clothes and shoes to wear.
Afterwards, they were taken to a police station where they were fingerprinted
and forced to sign documents written in Russian, a language they did not
understand.
When they were taken the next day to a large military facility in the city for
processing of military IDs, it began to dawn on the 24-year-old that he had
unknowingly enlisted in the Russian armed forces.
His fear was confirmed when he asked one of the Russians why they were
processing the cards. He recalled the Russian telling him: “You travelled all
the way from Kenya and didn’t know what you were coming to do?”
Oduor – not his real name – is one of more than 200 Kenyans and hundreds of
other Africans who have been trafficked to Russia with promises of ordinary
jobs, only to end up on the frontline in its war with Ukraine."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
