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Kenyans will no longer fight for Russia, top diplomat says

Elizabeth Schumacher with AFP, Reuters
March 16, 2026

Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said Nairobi and Moscow had come to an agreement to end Russian army recruiting of Kenyans.

https://p.dw.com/p/5AU6D
Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow
The announcement came after Kenyan Foreign Minister Mudavadi met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in MoscowImage: Sergei Fadeichev/TASS/picture alliance

Officials promised to clamp down on the practice of pressing Kenyans into joining the Russian army, Nairobi's Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said on Monday in Moscow. He added that they were working on a plan to repatriate Kenyans who had been lured to Russia until false pretenses.

After being promised well-paid civilian work, some 1,000 Kenyans have landed in Russia only to find themselves forcibly conscripted to join the invasion of Ukraine.

Mudavadi spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who he said had "agreed that Kenyans...will no longer be eligible to be enlisted," in the "special operation" — Moscow's term for the war, now in its fourth year. 

Uproar in Kenya

In February, an intelligence report was presented to parliament that estimated 1,000 Kenyans were fighting on behalf of Moscow, five times what authorities had previously thought.

This prompted a national outcry. Mudavadi's deputy, Abraham Korir Sing'Oei called for an immediate end to the "unacceptable" practice of Russia using Kenyans as "cannon fodder."

Lavrov, for his part, said that the Kenyans in the Russian military had joined voluntarily, but that he backed the new measures.

The foreign minister stressed at the same time "the relationship between Kenya and Russia is much ⁠more ​broader" than this one topic, and that other areas of cooperation would not be affected.

Kenyans seek news on relatives hired into Russia's war

Russia's foreign recruitment

Russia has been turning to foreign recruitment to bolster its war effort, with many former soldiers reporting being tricked into enlisting.

Earlier this year, South Africa repatriated 15 of its citizens trapped in the Donbas region who said they had been lured there by deceit.

In 2024, Nepal said it would stop issuing exit documents for its citizens to work in Russia. 

Tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to be fighting for Russia in Ukraine, with US and British news outlets reporting that many are kept in slavery-type conditions by the Russian military.

Edited by: Alex Berry

Elizabeth Schumacher Elizabeth Schumacher reports on gender equity, immigration, poverty and education in Germany.