Russia tricking South Africans into fighting in Ukraine, says Amnesty - TimesLIVE

There are two ways that civilians from around the world, including from South Africa, are being deceived by Russia into participation in the war with Ukraine, research by Amnesty International shows.

The first involves recruiting foreign nationals by approaching them in their home countries. This method, according to the individuals whose cases the organisation has documented, involves express deceit and misrepresentation. Many end up travelling to Russia under false promises, only to be fraudulently drafted into the military forces on arrival.

Amnesty International interviewed individuals from South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sri Lanka who had been recruited from outside Russia. They described being falsely promised civilian jobs in security, logistics, construction, IT and other sectors, often with assurances of high salaries and expedited access to Russian citizenship.

“Nalin”, a Sri Lankan interviewed by Amnesty in a prisoner camp in Ukraine in March, said a friend in Sri Lanka introduced him to “an employment agent who was Sri Lankan”.

According to Nalin, he was promised a civilian job as a security guard. The agent arranged his trip to Russia and Nalin said another 58 Sri Lankans travelled with him to Moscow. They were met at the airport and driven to another location. The trip was not too long so he assumed it was still in Moscow. There he was presented with a document in Russian, with no translation offered, and was rushed into signing it on the spot.

None of the people who met him at the airport or accompanied him during the transfer spoke English, let alone his home language of Sinhala. He said he was confused and had no understanding of what was happening. Apparently among the papers he and other newly arrived Sri Lankans signed was a military contract — on the basis of which he was promptly deployed to the front line, following fairly rudimentary training (also conducted in Russian).

While local agents appear to have been instrumental outside Russia in targeting potential recruits for Russian military forces, in some cases such individuals were recruited online ... by recruiters whose location is concealed or unknown

Two other testimonies received by Amnesty International during the visit to the prisoner camp in March tell a similar tale. “Lahiru” and “Saman”, two Sri Lankans, recounted that they had arrived in Russia after being promised highly paid civilian jobs, and were tricked into signing what turned out to be military contracts with the Russian Armed Forces, and sent to the front line. Neither Lahiru nor Saman received any money, they said.

As the documents were in a language they did not understand, it is unclear what they included, apart from the military contract.

Amnesty said according to a media report by The Insider, based on journalistic investigations there have been cases of foreign military recruits coerced into signing a power of attorney in the presence of a notary, affording the right to others to access, and make transfers, from their bank accounts. This, according to the journalists, resulted in the recruits not receiving any payments.

Similar allegations from a group of lawyers from Peru were given to Amnesty. According to them, there have been cases of individuals signing documents which granted powers of attorney, including general powers of attorney, to third parties for periods of five and 10 years, and in some cases indefinitely.

While local agents appear to have been instrumental outside Russia in targeting potential recruits for Russian military forces, in some cases such individuals were recruited online, including through misleading job advertisements, by recruiters whose location is concealed or unknown. Even the country of destination for potential employment was deliberately misrepresented or obfuscated.

Amnesty spoke to the wife of “Joseph”, a truck driver from South Africa, who applied online for a driving job in Poland in late 2025. His application was successful and a female agent who introduced herself as Anzhelina began communicating with him on WhatsApp about the details of his future employment and travel arrangements.

The wife told Amnesty they were surprised that despite the job supposedly being in Poland, his travel was arranged to Moscow. The agent explained that he would pick up a truck in Moscow and drive it to Poland, saying Poland and Russia were neighbouring countries. The agent provided detailed instructions on the border checks at the airport, and even specified which gate to go to as “there will be a person to support you”.

Joseph was told that there would be another South African travelling with him. He met him at the airport. After they boarded the flight to Moscow in December 2025, the agent stopped all the communication with both of them.

“Upon arrival in Moscow, everything was taken from him. There were times when I did not talk to him for two months. He was told that he would not be going to Poland and would be a soldier,” Joseph’s wife said.

She said he did not have any military experience and was not given much training in Russia.

“They promised he would get paid in the army but he never got any money.”

Amnesty said an overwhelming majority of third-country nationals interviewed for its research from among those recruited into the Russian forces in their home country claimed they were lied to or deliberately misled.

Economic vulnerability was key. Many of those interviewed described having little or no income before travelling to Russia, and having limited economic prospects in their home country.

Amnesty said information from various informants corroborated allegations of deceit at the initial stage of recruitment.

The Peruvian lawyers said from 2025 onwards, recruiters increasingly used deceptive techniques. Typically working via Colombia-based agencies and targeting Peruvian nationals, the recruiters earned about US$2,000 for each new recruit. According to the lawyers’ information, the recruits were provided with plane tickets to Russia in a matter of days. On arrival, the Peruvian recruits signed military contracts and powers of attorney, for periods of five to 15 years or without an end date.

In one case, two men from the same family, a father and son, were promised civilian jobs in Russia. The father travelled first and soon contacted the son warning him of the deceit and urging him not to go. By then, the son had already reached Russia but received the message from his father and promptly sought assistance from the Peruvian embassy in Moscow, which provided him shelter. The recruiters visited the embassy, insisting they wanted to see him. He was then transferred to a discreet accommodation where the recruiters found him. He refused to co-operate and afterwards managed to travel back to Peru.

In many cases reported to Amnesty International, promises of high salaries and sign-up bonuses were not fulfilled. “While some individuals received some payments before capture, many reported receiving nothing at all. Whether misled about the nature of their job in Russia or not, the recruits were often fraudulently promised quick enrichment,” the organisation said.

The second pathway of recruitment of foreigners into Russian forces targets migrants and refugees already in Russia, often in situations of vulnerability due to precarity of their immigration status due to their residence permit expiring and their economic situation.

Amnesty said they would have to sign a military contract or face penalties, including detention and deportation.

“By that point, they would have heavily invested, financially and otherwise, into the prospect of earning a better living in Russia than in their home country and would not yet have recovered their losses. The cost of visa and travel to Russia, recruitment agents’ and other intermediaries’ fees and other related expenses, and the threat of a hefty fine for overstaying their Russian visa followed by deportation, meant they were particularly vulnerable to abusive recruitment practices.”

A Sri Lankan told Amnesty he arrived in Russia in 2024 on a work visa. He said he was employed by the fast-food chain Burger King, in the kitchen. Six months after his visa expired, he could not afford to travel back home to renew it. He stayed on in Russia with irregular migration status until the police stopped him and, after checking his documents, issued him a fine.

Soon afterwards he was approached by “a friend from India” who told him of the possibility of signing a contract to join the Russian army. He was promised a sizeable one-off payment as a sign-on bonus and a sizeable monthly salary, a residency permit and a fast-track pathway to Russian citizenship.

After two weeks of military training, he was sent to the front line in eastern Ukraine and was taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces after less than a month.

Another prisoner in the same situation said he received a sign-on bonus of 135,000 roubles (about $1,500-$2,000), and a salary of 250,000 roubles (between $2,950 to $2,965) for two months, after which he was captured.

Amnesty said the instrumentalisation of irregular status of foreign nationals who overstayed work-related visas for military recruitment was not the only situation of vulnerability of foreign nationals.

“Refugees are equally exposed to predatory recruitment. In all testimonies, several additional patterns emerged about the manner in which people were deceived and exploited.

“Withholding or distorting information on the risks involved and on the specific nature or responsibilities of the job (specifically combat versus non-combat), and reliance on the lack of full understanding of the consequences by those concerned, are some of the ways people are lured.

“The prospect of military service is typically presented as a non-combat support function, such as working in the military kitchen or as a driver far away from the front line.”

“Enrique” from Cuba, who, despite the fact that he had knowingly signed a military contract, obtained a job in construction in Russia, for which he had applied online: “It is very easy and common for Cubans to travel to Russia. There are so many opportunities there.

“I loved it in Russia and wanted to live there. So when a colleague offered me a contract with the Russian Armed Forces to then get a Russian passport, I agreed. They told me I would be in a support function, not that I would go to the front.”

Amnesty said while some interviewees understood that they were signing contracts with the Russian Armed Forces, their accounts consistently indicated that information about the nature of the service, the likelihood of deployment to active combat and the risks involved was withheld, obscured or misrepresented.

“Many were migrants from countries facing serious economic challenges, instability or widespread human rights violations, factors that had increased their vulnerability. In these circumstances, the issue is the extent to which deception, misinformation and the exploitation of vulnerability undermined the possibility of fully informed and genuinely voluntary consent.”

Amnesty International called on Russia to immediately put an end to all reported abusive practices that involve the recruitment of foreign nationals for its military forces and their treatment in training centres and at the front line.