NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 21 — Ukraine has urged African governments to scrutinize a recent surge in Russian government scholarships, warning that they could serve as indirect recruitment channels for Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
Speaking during a virtual briefing with African journalists on Friday, Liubov Abravitova, Director of the Directorate of Africa and Regional Organisations at Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Russia is seeking alternative sources of manpower due to mounting military pressure.
She highlighted that, for the 2025–2026 academic year, Russia has offered over 5,000 government-funded scholarships for African students, which, while presented as educational support, may have a hidden recruitment dimension.
“The attention should be drawn to the fact that for the 2025–2026 academic year, Russia has significantly increased the number of scholarships for African students,” Abravitova said.
“While this appears as a support for African education, in reality, such a policy has a hidden recruitment purpose.”
She urged African governments and media to raise public awareness, noting that the timing of the expanded scholarship program coincides with Russia’s reported manpower shortages.
Ukraine estimates that Russia has lost about 1.2 million soldiers, along with more than 400 aircraft and hundreds of rocket systems, adding that occupying one kilometre of Ukrainian territory costs Moscow an estimated 156 soldiers.
“Unfortunately, Africans are among this number,” Abravitova said.
On distinguishing genuine scholarships from potentially deceptive offers, Abravitova cautioned that Moscow often uses education programs in occupied territories to legitimize its territorial claims, particularly in Crimea.
She advised prospective students to verify the location of institutions and ensure they are not in territories annexed or occupied by Russia, which no African country currently recognizes.
In October 2025, Russia allocated more than 5,000 state-funded university places for African students for the current academic year.
Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), described the initiative as part of Moscow’s broader engagement with Africa’s human capital, emphasizing growing interest in Russian education from African countries such as Sudan, Guinea, Ghana, and Chad.
However, researchers and analysts warn that even legitimate scholarships carry risks. Thierry Vircoulon, senior researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), noted that at the start of the war, foreign students in Russia were pressured or forced to join military operations, including the Wagner group.
Many African students were killed on the battlefield, and financial promises often went unfulfilled.
Vincent Gaudio, co-founder of Swiss-based NGO INPACT, said recruitment reflects a transactional relationship built on promises—such as fast-track citizenship, social benefits, and high pay—that frequently fail to materialize, leaving recruits vulnerable. Investigations have identified at least 1,417 African men who signed contracts to fight for Russia since 2023, with numbers rising from 177 in 2023 to 592 in 2024, and 647 in 2025.
Recruits are predominantly aged 18–31, with fatalities concentrated among Cameroonian, Ghanaian, and Egyptian recruits, totaling at least 316 deaths across 37 military units.
Recruits were promised initial payments up to $30,000, monthly salaries of $2,200–$2,500, visas, training, and citizenship opportunities.
Despite these incentives, Russia’s embassy in Nairobi denied allegations of targeted recruitment, calling reports linking its scholarships to military enlistment “misleading propaganda,” and stating that foreign nationals in Russia may enlist voluntarily but not through embassy facilitation.
Ukraine emphasized that the issue requires coordinated diplomatic engagement, heightened public awareness campaigns in Africa, and closer monitoring of recruitment channels linked to education, labor, and migration programs to protect African students from exploitation.
