From job promise to war zone: The Kenyan workers lured into Russia’s frontlines

Caught in the rising tide of inflation and battered by harsh economic hardship in Kenya, 39-year-old Gerald Gitau has been among millions of young people desperately hunting for job opportunities to support their families. Gitau, a holder of a Diploma in Business Management, previously worked as a driver in Middle Eastern countries for over a decade, and returned home to Nairobi two years ago when his contract ended. With dreams of building a new life, Gitau planned to invest his savings in a small business, but Kenya’s tough economy in Nairobi dashed those hopes, forcing him to depend on temporary jobs that barely kept his family afloat.

So when an opportunity emerged in October 2025, offering him an opportunity to return to his old driving job, this time in Russia, Gitau felt a wave of relief and without hesitation, approved the processing of his travel documents and secured his flight ticket. His brother, Peter Kamau, recalls that one evening, while heading home from work, he received a call from Gitau asking him to drive him to the airport to catch a flight by 6am the following morning. According to Kamau, his brother said he had found a new job that needed him to leave early, and promised to share more when they met the following day.

“My brother has worked abroad all his life, and so when he said he had received an offer, I was not surprised. I woke up at 2:30am to pick him up in time, and while on the way to the airport, I started questioning him about the offer. At first, he was reluctant to share details, but eventually he confessed he was traveling to Moscow for a driver’s job.

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I asked him why Russia, and he answered that ‘the money is good’ and since he had been out of work for two years, he needed to go,” Kamau recalls. The mention of Russia alarmed Kamua; he remembered he had heard of the war happening in the region, and so, he immediately thought to ask his brother to turn down the offer. “I shared my reservations with him, based on the limited information I had on whatever was happening there at the time, but Gitau insisted on going.

At some point, we started arguing at the airport parking lot, and I noticed we were attracting the attention of some onlookers, including some police officers who were on duty, so I decided to let him go. I convince myself that he is an adult of sound mind, and having worked abroad before, he would find his way around,” he adds. On the morning of October 8 last year, his brother boarded his flight and left the country.

The following morning, after arriving in Doha, he contacted Kamau to let him know where he was. “He said they were having a three-day layover, another red flag because, why would an employer who is covering the costs of your tickets be spending money on you and not rush to get you to start working? Has the employer not planned how you will travel directly to Moscow? I asked my brother, and he explained that the layover was probably part of the recruitment process,” Kamau recalls.

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