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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
“Predatory Recruiting”: How Russia Uses Deception and Money to Recruit Foreigners into the War Against Ukraine
For some it’s a chance to escape poverty, for others — an opportunity to get a new passport or start a life in another country. Russia exploits those aspirations to replenish its army with people from different corners of the world.
Recruiting foreigners has become part of a war that extends far beyond Ukraine, and promises of a better life can end in participation in combat.
hromadske examined how the system of hiring foreigners into the Russian military works, how large it has become, and why the stories of those who ended up in the Russian army raise questions of deception, exploitation, and accountability.
Promises that Lead to War
In the documentary “Predatory Recruiting: The Story of Evans,” produced by the hromadske team, Kenyan athlete Evans Kibet recounts how he ended up in the Russian army. He says he agreed to go to Saint Petersburg for a cultural event where he was to share his training experience. In Russia, he was allegedly asked to sign documents in Russian that he, he claims, did not understand. It later turned out those were military contracts.
The protagonist of the film “Predatory Recruiting: The Story of Evans” is Kenyan Evans Kibet, who was a Russian mercenary
Recruitment mechanisms vary. People may be offered civilian jobs — as security guards, drivers, cooks, construction workers, or logistics staff. Others are invited to cultural and sports events, training programs, or university admission. Then they are offered to sign military contracts.
In some cases, according to foreigners’ testimonies, the military nature of the offer is concealed until arrival in Russia. In other cases — people know they are signing a military contract but may not understand its terms or have a realistic idea of future service.
Human rights and international advocacy expert Maria Tomak explained why the term “predatory recruiting” is used to describe such practices. She says it means recruiting for military service “through mechanisms of coercion, deception, and exploitation of vulnerable situations.”
At the same time, the expert notes, Russia often does not recruit foreigners directly, but uses recruitment agencies and local brokers who search for people in their own countries.
Intermediaries can help with visas, tickets, and documents, meet candidates, and accompany them to the contract signing. After that, in some cases recruits have their passports and phones taken away, their movement restricted, or are threatened if they try to refuse service. Promised payments can be delayed or not paid at all.
However, it is important not to reduce all foreigners to one category. Some may voluntarily seek earning opportunities and knowingly join the army. Some may sign a contract without knowing the true terms. And some, according to the foreigners themselves, did not understand at all that they were being hired to take part in a war.
Scale of the Recruiting
According to the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Ukrainian side has identified nearly 49 thousand foreigners from 59 countries who signed contracts with the Russian armed forces.
The number of such contracts is increasing every year. Thus, in 2022 there were 94 foreign contracts recorded, in 2023 — 4067, in 2024 — 8877, and over 2025 year — 16 085. In the first nine months of 2026 — another 16 168, that is more than the entire previous year.
Russia’s likely plan is to recruit 18 500 foreigners per year, Andriy Yusov, deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, suggested during the film discussion. He added that this plan will most likely be exceeded very soon.
“Every month 1800 foreigners agree to go and kill Ukrainians,” Yusov says.
The countries of origin of recruits are most often Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. At the same time, the number of people from Africa and Latin America is rapidly increasing. In the first nine months of 2026, contracts were signed by 1449 citizens of Colombia, 699 citizens of Burundi, 530 citizens of Zimbabwe, and 503 citizen of Peru.
These figures alone do not determine how many people signed contracts knowingly and how many ended up in the Russian army through deception or coercion. They also do not cover all foreigners fighting on Russia’s side. But the numbers show that Russia is increasingly recruiting people from other countries into the war.
The consequences of recruitment are visible in Kenya, the home country of Evans Kibet. According to Kenyan media reports, families of men who went to Russia are demanding that authorities explain how their relatives ended up at war and determine the fate of the missing and the dead.
For example, an article in the Standard newspaper from 27 October, which hromadske has obtained, describes families’ demands to get answers from President William Ruto ahead of the Russia–Africa summit. The issue has already been raised in the Kenyan parliament: families want to know who recruited their relatives, what happened to them, and who should be held accountable for the consequences.
For families this is not only a question of finding missing persons, but also a demand to identify those responsible for recruitment and possible deception. They are urging authorities to investigate intermediaries’ activities, clarify the circumstances of Kenyans’ dispatch to Russia, and establish a systematic record of people who ended up at war so families can receive truthful information about their fate.
The protagonist of the film “Predatory Recruiting: The Story of Evans” is Kenyan Evans Kibet, who was a Russian mercenary
The Price of a “Better” Life
Why do people agree to such offers? The answer is not reducible to a single motive. For some it’s a chance to earn income that is hard to get at home. For others — an opportunity to legalize in Russia or obtain citizenship. Some may consciously choose military service expecting payments. Others look for civilian work and do not expect to end up on the front line.
Economic vulnerability is what makes recruiters’ promises effective. A high salary, paid travel, and the prospect of a new legal status can seem like a real way out of a desperate situation. If a person has already traveled to another country, does not know the language, has lost access to their passport, or depends on an intermediary, it becomes much harder to refuse the offered conditions.
In April 2026, Truth Hounds, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights published a study after interviewing prisoners of war that describes not isolated cases of recruitment but a global system bringing foreigners into the Russian army. It spans countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and its tools include promises of highly paid civilian work, Russian citizenship, and other benefits.
Researchers also found signs of involvement by Russian state structures in creating conditions for such recruitment and concluded that in some cases it has the characteristics of human trafficking.
“Many of these people understood what they were agreeing to. But some were deceived or forced to join the Russian army. In any case, Russia turned them into cogs of its war machine and sent them to the most dangerous parts of the front,” said Alexis Deswaef, president of FIDH.
Later, in September 2026, Amnesty International published its own study on recruiting foreigners into the Russian army. The report described offers of civilian jobs that ended in military service, as well as cases where people in Russia with unstable migration status were pressured with threats of deportation or criminal prosecution.
According to testimonies cited in the report, some foreigners were sent to the front after short training. Human rights defenders also documented confiscation of documents, restrictions on movement, and threats against those who wanted to leave the service.
At the same time, Ukrainian data indicate that not all foreigners consider themselves deceived. According to a survey of foreign prisoners of war cited by the Coordination Headquarters on 20 October of this year, 46,7% of respondents said they signed a contract for Russian citizenship, and only 28% stated they did not know they would fight against Ukraine.
The protagonist of the film “Predatory Recruiting: The Story of Evans” is Kenyan Evans Kibet, who was a Russian mercenary
Is It Possible to Prove Russia’s Involvement?
Russian authorities deny illegal recruitment of foreigners and insist those who join the army do so voluntarily. In March 2026 Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference with his Kenyan counterpart that “no one is being hired, just as no one is being recruited in the case of the ‘special military operation.’ Volunteers go there fully in accordance with Russian law.”
However, according to the Coordination Headquarters, 41,4% of surveyed foreign prisoners of war were recruited through military enlistment offices or recruitment points. This already indicates a role for official Russian structures in some cases.
Two levels of responsibility need to be distinguished here. The first is criminal responsibility of a specific recruiter, official, or commander, which requires evidence of their actions and role. The second concerns the state that organizes recruitment for its own army and cannot automatically shift responsibility for abuses to intermediaries if its structures participate in the process or accept people recruited through deception.
At the same time, proving state responsibility of Russia legally is difficult. Maria Tomak explains that the Russian authorities try to distance themselves from the recruitment process by presenting it as foreigners’ voluntary decision.
“It’s not us doing the recruiting — they come to us and mobilize themselves. We aren’t involved,” the expert says, describing the position of Russian diplomats in various countries. According to her, Russia deliberately does not publicize its role in recruitment, which complicates gathering the evidence needed for legal prosecution.
The researcher said that she and her colleagues are seeking international mechanisms that would make it possible to hold Russia or the people coordinating recruitment accountable. Among possible tools she named UN mechanisms and the International Criminal Court, but she noted that identifying an appropriate crime and collecting sufficient evidence will not be easy.
“I think it is still difficult to make a surprising and so unambiguous case for the ICC to respond to immediately. This is a complicated task, and bringing Russia to account right away is very difficult.” Maria Tomak, human rights and international advocacy expert
Andriy Yusov agrees that the process of holding people accountable will be lengthy, but stresses that diplomatic work is already underway. According to him, Ukraine is interacting with governments of countries whose citizens ended up in Ukrainian captivity or became victims of “predatory recruiting.” One direction of this work is the Stop Russian Recruiters campaign, carried out by Ukraine and the Coordination Headquarters with the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Yusov also allows for the use of national legal mechanisms: the countries of origin of the recruited can investigate recruiters’ actions within their own jurisdiction, and also raise questions of responsibility of the Russian government for actions against their citizens.
“This is certainly not a problem of Kenya alone or of Ukraine alone. This is a global threat, and the responses must also be global and collective,” Yusov concludes.
Author: Viktoriia Kolomiiets
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