Human trafficking networks hiring fighters for Russian army change tactics

Ayub Ibrahim was so eager to travel to Russia that I could feel the enthusiasm in his text messages when he informed me that he had finally made it to Kampala, Uganda, and was waiting for his traffickers to send him a plane ticket to Istanbul, Turkey, where he would catch a connecting flight to Moscow.

“They are paying for everything,” he sent me a text one Tuesday morning on Telegram. He quickly followed the text with a video showing his hotel room, a plate full of fried eggs plus buttered bread that he was having for breakfast.

“You are being treated like a king,” I fired back.

“Oh! Yeah, they even sent me some pocket money to spend,” he responded, then sent a second video showing a wad of old Ugandan notes to prove he was not lying. He added, “It is true bro, my flight is tomorrow.

For weeks, I had been trying to establish how traffickers were still able to lure young men to join the Russian army to fight against Ukraine right under the nose of authorities in an era of ubiquitous and unprecedented surveillance capacity by law enforcement.

Following the September 24 raid by the police in Athi River that led to the rescue of 22 men who were awaiting to be trafficked to Russia, the government increased its surveillance at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

After a review of sworn statements by the 22 men by The Saturday Standard, however, it became obvious that there were other external players based in Russia that were pulling the strings from behind the scenes and were therefore unreachable by Kenyan authorities.

With their key local pipeline crippled following increased surveillance at the JKIA, the Russian agents aware of how desperate jobless Kenyans wanted to fight in Ukraine, shifted their operations to the very tool that is widely accessible by young people. The internet.

Aware of the increased surveillance by Kenyan authorities and pressured with their Kremlin-mandated recruitment targets, the Russian agents started targeting potential recruits directly and eliminating local agencies to evade detection.

Relying on an old-school clandestine Russian spy recruitment model, the agents deployed faceless Kenyans whose purpose to build relationships of trust with potential targets using word of mouth, identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in potential recruits before making a direct pitch.

Kenyan youth who show interest and appear to be able to keep secrets are sent a link to join a Telegram channel called ’17 Group.’ Once you are a member of this channel, which acts as a holding pen, you get invited to other groups as your recruitment is being processed concurrently in Russia and in Kenya till you leave.

The whole process takes about two months. Recruits are first sent a Russian military contract to read. Once you read the contract, you are then asked to record a video saying you understand the details of the contract and you are willing to join the Russian army.

After that, you are invited to the second group where you submit a scanned copy of your passport to a Russian called Dmitry Kilmov, who is the administrator.

Once approved, Klimov communicates with his local agents who send you money via M-pesa and direct you where you will take a medical exam. By this time your visa would have been approved.

By the time a recruit leaves Kenya, he would have moved through at least four different Telegram groups. Once you are in the first group, the Russians take over. Movement to the subsequent groups is by invitation only. And unlike the first group, the other groups do not have invite links.

It is in one of these channels on Telegram that I found Ibrahim. I had posed as a potential recruit with the hope of infiltrating the cartels and finding out how they were still able to successfully airlift desperate Kenyans to fight in the Ukraine war.

For weeks, I had bounced through many Telegram channels mostly targeting recruits from the Middle East or appeared to be scams that wanted recruits to pay some form of cash for visa processing fees or airfare upfront, until I was admitted to the ‘17 Group.’

Like Ibrahim, I was introduced to the group by someone who was also in the process of being recruited to go to Russia. A father of one and a university graduate, Ibrahim tried to get a job in Kenya for the last five years with no success. Married and with no job, he was willing to risk it all for his family.

He had almost lost hope of making it to Russia after police launched a crackdown on local recruitment agencies until an acquaintance told him it was still possible to be recruited directly by the Russians themselves.

“I am a man. This is what men do. Instead of sitting at home, I would rather go to Russia and try to get money, whatever happens, I am not in control but I will have tried,” he told me after we became friends.

By the time he was leaving Kenya, the secrecy surrounding his travelling plans was so high that he did not even tell his wife or parents that he was leaving the country.

“I paid three months rent for the house and informed my wife that I would be going on a journey in case she is unable to find me on phone,” said Ibrahim.

His plan was to get to Russia, undergo the three-week military training, get his signing bonus of Sh2 million which he had been promised, disappear from the camp, melt into the Russian public and get a job to sustain his family back home from Europe. At least this is what he told me.

However, on checking with a former Kenya Air Force pilot who is currently nursing injuries at a hospital in Belgorod, 700 kilometres south of Moscow after getting injured on the battlefield, he said that Ibrahim’s escape plan was not possible.

“The training is in Ukraine itself. He cannot escape. Nothing is being done in Russia apart from being picked up at the airport,” said the pilot who worked for Kenya Defence Forces for eight years and can fly several choppers, including Cabri G2CA, Robinson 66, Fennec B2 and Huey UH-1H-1.

“I have been in Ukraine all through until I got injured by grenade fragments. I tried reaching out to our embassy but they insisted I go to Moscow which is a nine-hour drive from here. I will get arrested if I try,” he explained giving us a reality of the life those who fall for the recruitment cartels are going to face once in Russia.

To get to Kampala, Ibrahim left Nairobi by bus on a Monday evening. His bus ticket had been paid a faceless individual. He only received a soft copy of the ticket on his Telegram account from Klimov.

The Russian instructed him to send a photo of himself inside the bus once he made it to the station and the vehicle started moving. He was told not to inform any of his friends or family, to prevent the State security agents from finding out.

“Once I sent Klimov a photo, someone from Kenya sent me pocket money through M-pesa,” Ibrahim said adding that he had been told to avoid talking to people during the trip.

At the Busia border, Ibrahim secretly took a photo of himself at the immigration counter and sent it to Klimov. Again, someone from Kenya sent him money to bribe for the yellow fever certificate which he did not have.

To avoid detection, he was told to cross the border using his Kenyan ID and pretend he was just visiting Kampala as a tourist in case anyone asked. Once in Kampala, he sent another photo to Klimov. In turn he was informed the hotel where he was going to stay as he waited for his plane ticket to Russia.

Again, someone from Kenya sent him money to pay for the taxi to the hotel whose booking had already been done by faceless individuals. He stayed at the hotel for two days and finally flew to Russia through a layover in Istanbul, Turkey. His phone then went off. It was a seamless operation.

Ibrahim is one of the many Kenyans who have been trafficked to the Ukrainian battlefield in classic spy thriller fashion by faceless individuals in Russia through neighbouring countries, thus evading detection by security agencies.

It is still difficult to establish how many Kenyans have so far made it across the border using this new trafficking method. Nicholas Mukuha, who grew cold feet after being sent a bus ticket to Kampala says that one of his friends made it to Russia last month through the same system.

“He travelled through Turkey. We talked up to November 26, then he became unreachable on phone,” said Mukuha who last week wrote a statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) after we presented them with the findings of this investigation.

Mukuha was supposed to leave Nairobi at 4 pm on December 8 using a bus operated by Mash East Africa from their Accra road station. His bus ticket was sent to him by Klimov too using Telegram.

“Did you carry warm clothes?” Klimov asked him in a series of messages shown to The Saturday Standard.

“Can I carry my laptop?” Mukuha asked back to which Klimov answered, “Yes, my assistant will call you regarding the vaccine certificate.”

The certificate Klimov was referring to is a yellow fever certificate, which is mandatory for anyone intending to cross international borders. A Kenyan delivered the certificate at the Mash bus park to Mukuha.

Unknown to the person who delivered the certificate and Klimov, Mukuha was not intending to travel. All this while Klimov thought Mukuha was travelling to Russia.

“You need to take personal belongings that may be useful during the trip. If you have warm clothes, take those as well. Also take a sweater, a hoodie and the warmest jacket you have. I remind you that it is winter in Russia and very cold,” Klimov told him before Mukuha cut communication.

According to data shared by the Ukrainian government, Moscow has recruited at least 18,000 foreign fighters from 128 countries since the war began in 2022. The total number of African-identified recruits fighting for Russia was 1,436 originating from 36 countries, according to data released by Ukraine's Foreign minister Andriy Sybiha at the end of October.

However, once in Russia, the recruited mercenaries quickly realise that the promises made to them during the recruitment process were nothing but hot air. The former KDF soldier mentioned earlier in this story now wants to come back home.

While he admits he received Sh2.1 million bonus as promised upon signing, the agents who took him there quickly withdrew the money.

 “We were all made to sign joint accounts with the agent without being told that we had signed  a standing order allowing them to access our accounts, including salaries,” he said.

Worse, with Russia facing many international sanctions, it is almost impossible for the recruits to send money back to Kenya as major services like Western Union are limited, and many Russian banks are cut off from SWIFT or are sanctioned.

More than 3,500 foreigners have already died fighting for Russia. Nearly 200 foreigners from 37 countries have been captured fighting for Russia and are currently held as prisoners of war by Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Despite being in captivity, those captured by the Ukrainian army say they are lucky to be alive and off the battlefield. Their accounts paint a disturbing picture of the deception, bribery and blackmail they say Moscow is using to lure foreigners into joining its military.

Officially, there is only one Kenyan, former athlete Evans Kibet who claims he was tricked into joining the Russian war. Our sources on the battlefield have however, told us that two more Kenyans were captured last week.

Francis Ndungu who hails from Landless in Thika and Wilson Macharia who hails from Murang'a were captured by Ukrainian forces within the last two weeks. Both of them have in videos which we have seen expressed deep regret of ever joining the war.

“I can’t say it is a mistake but this is a life lesson that may be helpful to others. Russia will keep on recruiting people from Africa and across the world. The fact is you will be lied to that you will receive a lot of money but none of it will enter your account,” said Macharia.