Kenya reports exploitation of African women in Russia, Ukraine embassy says

The Standard, one of Kenya’s leading newspapers, has published an article revealing that young African women, including at least 14 Kenyans, have been recruited to work in Russian drone factories under conditions described as exploitative and coercive.

The report links the recruitment to Russia’s push to ramp up drone production amid its ongoing war against Ukraine. The women were allegedly promised education and employment opportunities through a program called “Alabuga SEZ/Start,” based in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, a region southeast of Moscow.

According to The Standard, the program was heavily promoted on social media as a fully funded training initiative that offers jobs in logistics, welding, and hospitality, along with housing, stipends, airfare, and medical insurance. 

Recruits are promised salaries of up to 40,000 rubles, or roughly $500 per month.

Instead the women were placed in drone-manufacturing plants that produce Iranian-style suicide drones that are often used in Russian aerial attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets. The working conditions were described as exploitative, with some employees comparing them to forced labor.

Russian investigative outlet Protokol previously reported that Russia had turned to foreign labor to sustain drone production after relying on imports from Iran. The Standard says that participants in the Alabuga program come from at least 30 countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, South Sudan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and several other African nations.

By early 2024, 182 women had enrolled in the program. The report raises concerns over the targeting of vulnerable populations in Africa for military-related labor far from home.

Ukraine’s embassy in Kenya acknowledged investigation. Oleksii Bobrovnykov, first secretary at the embassy, said the article marks a turning point in how African nations view their involvement.

“Africa is beginning to understand what it has been drawn into by allowing its people to support the production of Shahed drones,” Bobrovnykov said. “It’s not an easy realization, but it has begun.”