Botswana has become the latest African country to warn its citizens about fraudulent recruitment schemes that lure job seekers into Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Ministry of International Relations says it has seen a sharp increase in distress calls from Batswana who believed they were travelling for civilian jobs but instead found themselves on the battlefield.
In a statement issued on July 18, the ministry said more citizens are being tricked into accepting overseas job offers that turn out to be military recruitment.
“The number of Batswana being misled into such arrangements is rising at an alarming rate,” the ministry said. It added that officials “continue to receive heartbreaking calls from Batswana already on the front line, describing the perilous conditions they face.”
The government urged citizens to verify overseas job offers before accepting them. It advised people to be cautious of unusually high salaries, contracts that lack clear English-language terms and recruiters who pressure applicants to travel without proper documentation.
Botswana has not disclosed how many of its citizens are believed to be serving with Russian forces. In December, officials said at least two young Batswana may have been recruited. They also acknowledged that once citizens arrive in Russia, the government’s ability to assist them is extremely limited.
Botswana’s warning reflects a broader pattern emerging across Africa.
Zimbabwe has confirmed that 15 of its citizens have died after being drawn into the conflict through similar schemes. Information Minister Zhemu Soda said the government is working to bring home 66 other Zimbabweans believed to be alive.
Soda said victims are targeted by fraudulent agencies advertising lucrative jobs, mostly through social media. After arriving in Russia, many have their passports confiscated and are forced into combat. He added that recruits often receive little or no military training, while recruiters disappear once someone is injured, killed or captured, leaving families without information or support.
The scale of the recruitment network has also been documented by Geneva-based nonprofit Inpact. Its All Eyes on Wagner initiative reported in February that more than 1,400 Africans from countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa were recruited between January 2023 and September 2025. At least 316 were killed.
The report found that many recruits were initially promised scholarships, jobs or vocational training before being pressured or blackmailed into joining Russia’s military after arriving in Russia or Russian-controlled territory.
Those findings contradict repeated denials by Russian officials. Russian Ambassador Natalia Krasovskaya told reporters in Ghana in late 2025 that African students in Russia were focused on their studies, not combat. Russia’s ambassador to Nigeria, Andrey Podyelyshev, also rejected claims that Nigerians had been recruited to fight in Ukraine.
Kenya has provided some of the clearest evidence of the recruitment pipeline. In April, Foreign Secretary Musalia Mudavadi told Parliament that Kenyans cannot serve in a foreign military without government approval, an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Mudavadi said many recruits had signed contracts promising Russian citizenship and sign-on bonuses of up to three million Kenyan shillings, or about $23,000. Kenya’s foreign ministry said in March that as many as 252 Kenyans had been illegally recruited, with 10 feared dead and 38 injured. A separate intelligence assessment estimated the number of Kenyan recruits could be closer to 1,000.
The recruitment drive continues to expand. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, HUR, warned in April that Russia plans to recruit at least 18,500 foreign fighters in 2026. Internal targets reportedly aim for foreign nationals to make up between 0.5% and 3.5% of personnel along different sections of the front line.
In March, the European Parliament condemned the practice as a form of human trafficking, saying victims are deceived, stripped of their documents and treated as expendable.
Authorities in Kenya and South Africa have already arrested people accused of running recruitment networks that funnel African nationals into Russia’s armed forces. South Africa has confirmed that two of its citizens have been killed in the war, while others have been injured or left stranded, highlighting how deeply the recruitment network has spread across the continent despite growing government warnings.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah