Johannesburg, South Africa — August 20, 2025 A new wave of reports has exposed how migrant workers — including vulnerable Africans — are being recruited into Russia through fraudulent job schemes, only to find themselves trapped in forced labour, exploitative contracts, and in some cases, coercion into military supply chains.
According to international rights groups and testimonies from affected families, young men from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia were promised jobs in construction, agriculture, or logistics, only to discover on arrival that their passports were confiscated. Some were forced to work in “slave-like conditions” under armed supervision, while others were redirected to factories producing equipment with military applications, including drone components.