Over 1,000 Kenyans enlisted to fight in Russia-Ukraine war, report says

A total of 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight for Russia, according to a Kenyan intelligence report that details a network of rogue officials allegedly colluding with human trafficking syndicates. The report, submitted to parliament on Wednesday by Kenya’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), said 89 Kenyans were on the front lines of the Russia–Ukraine war as of February this year. At least one Kenyan has died, while several others have returned home injured or traumatised, it added.

The Kenyan government, which previously estimated that about 200 of its nationals had been recruited to fight for Russia,wants Moscow to bar the conscription of Kenyan soldiers. Presenting the report to MPs, parliament majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah, revealed what he termed a “deeply disturbing” network of rogue state officials allegedly colluding with human trafficking syndicates to recruit and transport Kenyans to fight in the Russia–Ukraine war. The spy agency detailed how recruitment agencies have allegedly been colluding with rogue Kenyan airport staff, immigration officers, officers at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), anti-narcotics officers and National Employment Authority officers to facilitate recruits’ travel.

Ichung’wah alleged that the agencies had also been colluding with staff at the Russian embassy in Nairobi and the Kenyan embassy in Moscow to help recruits get Russian visas. In a statement on Thursday, the Russian embassy in Nairobi dismissed the allegations as “dangerous and misleading”, saying that its staff has never been involved in “rogue schemes” or engaged in illegal enlistment. “At no point in time throughout the ongoing crisis in Ukraine [has] the Embassy ever issued visas to Kenyan citizens who sought to travel to Russia with the stated pose of participating in the Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine. “Nor the Embassy been encouraging any Kenyan citizen to do so.”