This handout photograph released by Ukrainian Emergency Service on August 2, 2023 shows a view of a damaged building at a Ukrainian port on the Danube after a night drone attack in Odesa region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Hundreds of young Kenyan women are trapped as low-wage workers in the Russian war economy after being enticed with promises of education scholarships and lucrative jobs, a new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) has revealed.
But as the desperate Kenyans continue to be used as collateral damage in the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, the authorities in Nairobi say they are not aware of citizens involved in any such arrangement.
While the investigators in the human trafficking report— Who Is Making Russia’s Drones? The Migrant Women Exploited for Russia’s War Economy — cannot put a finger on the number of Kenyan women recruited by war factories in Russia’s Tatarstan, a researcher told Weekly Review in confidence that the figure could be “a few hundred”.
It is not just Kenyans who have been tricked into the jobs scam, though. Tanzanian, Ugandan and Burkinabe young women are among those who have been sucked into the human trafficking web, the report says.
While the recruitment appears global, the interest in African young women is intriguing. Investigators found they are the most vulnerable as they are easy to manipulate and readily accept a pittance for salaries compared to Russians or men from developing countries.
Young Kenyan women, it points out, are some of the most vulnerable. The opportunities are pitched online as work-study programmes, which prospective candidates readily fall for.
“The Alabuga Start recruitment programme, which began in 2022, targets exclusively female migrant workers aged 18 to 22 to work at the SEZ (Special Economic Zone). The programme combines the promise of a high monthly salary – at least compared to the average pay in some of the recruiting countries – with low entry requirements. Russians are simply not ready to work for 30,000-40,000 rubles ($300-400 approximately Sh38898 - Sh51863). In third-world countries, the starting salary is very low – about $200 (Sh25932). And that’s why foreigners are ready to work for such money,” one of the recruiters is quoted in the report.
Foreign recruiters, GI-TOC says, have cashed in on the indifference to skilled labour migration to lure Kenyan women into arms manufacturing in Russia as Moscow seeks an advantage over Ukraine in their two-year-old war. Consequently, the East Africans are an integral part of the conflict and are walking daily in the shadows of death after they were lured with promises of educational scholarships. However, on arrival, they were forced to work in a military arms manufacturing company in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia.
The women aged mainly between 18 and 22 years were recruited from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in Africa – others are from Burkina Faso in West Africa – with the connivance of senior government officials. Once in the custody of the Russian recruiters, the recruits lose contact with the rest of the world, including their parents, friends and even the government.
“Several Alabuga Start participants responded to messages requesting interviews saying that they cannot speak to researchers or reporters, or suggested that decisions about speaking to outside parties were made by the Alabuga SEZ human resource managers, ‘If HR (human resource manager) finds out someone is talking to you [a researcher] without permission, it could affect all students…. Given the sensitive nature of drone production, the students are reportedly required to sign non-disclosure agreements related to specific projects, particularly those involving UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) production. One 16-year-old student reported that her parents also had to sign the agreement when she was recruited. Breaking the agreement risks serious financial penalties,” GI-TOC reports.
Published on May 12, the report is a ringing indictment of Kenya’s – and Africa’s – inability to create domestic jobs and send its young citizens into servitude, one of the investigators told the Weekly Review.
Kenya Economic Survey 2025, released by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on May 6, estimates current unemployment to be roughly 5.6 per cent, with not enough jobs being created annually.
Even more disconcerting for the Kenyan government are reports that recruiting agencies are now harping on its ‘free-for-all’ crusade to source jobs abroad for skilled young Kenyans. But why is the interest in young women?
The report says, “Alabuga Polytech students…suggested there is a perception among Alabuga management that young women would be easier to manage or control within the work programme. ‘Based on the company’s vision, men are more conflictive because of religious and other cultural differences. Coexistence between women is much easier than between men.”
Kenya has turned foreign jobs into a political crusade championed by President William Ruto, but it has lately lost the allure given the horror tales of scores of young Kenyans currently hovelled in dungeons in countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Burma and Philippines, among others.
Who is Making Russia’s Drones? The Migrant Women Exploited for Russia’s War Economy says: “Russia is a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, the primary international instrument for addressing organised crime, including human trafficking. The convention defines trafficking in persons as the act of recruiting or transporting someone, by means of coercion or deception, for the purpose of exploitation.”
The report adds: “These reports found the women had not been told they would be working in weapons production before they arrived at the site. Some were led to believe they would be enrolling on a work-study programme. They described long hours under constant surveillance and health issues caused by working with caustic chemicals. Whistle-blowers at Alabuga Polytech spoke to Russian media about punitive management and working conditions.”
The exact number of Kenyan women now working in the Russian arms factory is unknown. One of the investigators and authors of the report told the Weekly Review that it is estimated that the number of young Tanzanian women may be up to 2,000 at Alabuga drones’ factory because Dar es Salaam is in charge of the recruitment. Uganda like Kenya, leaves the candidates at the mercy of recruiters, who are mainly Russian.
“In Kenya and Uganda, the situation is different. It is difficult to know how many skilled workers leave the country to work abroad because the data is not captured. Education scholarships have further blurred the data. Our position is that there could be up to 3,000 East Africans working in the Russian arms factory,” the investigator says.
In Nairobi, where Cabinet Secretary for Labour Alfred Mutua has been under public scrutiny for unfulfilled foreign jobs promises, he did not answer calls or respond to messaged inquiries about the plight of young Kenyan women trapped in a Russian war factory. Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Kipkorir Sing’oei responded tersely to the inquiry about the tribulations of Kenyan women in Republic of Tatarstan – a Russian province.
“Totally unaware,” Dr Sing’oei replied.
A source in Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s office corroborated Sing’oei’s response, saying the government was in the dark.
“Let me contact the embassy in Moscow and I will get back to you,” said the source in Mudavadi’s office, who spoke in confidence as he is not the official spokesperson. Foreign affairs docket falls under the prime cabinet secretary’s office.
Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a production site for drones used by the Russian military in the war in Ukraine, while Alabuga Start is a recruitment programme that targets women aged 18-22 from developing countries to work in the drone production programme. Alabuga Start recruits are not told their work will be in drone production before their arrival at the site, says the investigation.
The GI-TOC report says: “The research confirmed that the Alabuga SEZ is engaged in the exploitation of its underage students and migrant workers. Testimonies from sources involved in Alabuga Start recruitment suggest there are fraudulent aspects of the process: potential recruits are enticed to participate under false pretences regarding the nature of the work, the working conditions and opportunities for education. As previous media reports have found, the objective of Alabuga Start is to support the Alabuga SEZ by staffing its drone production programme, although recruits are not told what the SEZ manufactures before they arrive. The women are recruited online – including on social media, with influencers tasked with promoting the Alabuga programme – and through intermediaries in their home countries. Most recruits work directly in drone production, while others work as support staff – cleaners and caterers.”
The report says the exploitation is on several levels – from allegations of racism towards migrant workers, harassment and excessive surveillance by Alabuga management to punitive working conditions.
“The fact that recruits work in drone production facilities also brings them unwittingly into the arena of the Russia-Ukraine conflict without their informed consent. They are not on the front line, but Ukrainian drones have targeted the SEZ site in a bid to cut off Russian supply chains, injuring workers there,” the investigation found.
In April 202 several African workers were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike. Reports say the strike hit one of the dormitories in which Alabuga Start participants are housed.
“Alabuga Start released a video message from a Kenyan worker in which she said that she and her co-workers were undaunted by Ukrainian threats. In December 2024, local media and some Telegram channels reported that the Alabuga site had had to be evacuated on the same day Ukrainian strikes hit Kazan, the nearest big city,” says the report, illustrating the dangers young Kenyan women live under.
In addition, African students-cum-workers are constantly harassed. Despite claims of racism and harassment of African workers, according to a Telegram TV channel that blew the whistle on the plight of Kenyan women in Russia.
“Students from the African continent are subject to constant bullying and sometimes sexual harassment. We urge the media to pay attention to this fact. Other students interviewed also reported allegations of xenophobia. One student, who participated in the whistle-blowing channel, claimed that relations between Russian and African students had improved but that it remained an issue,” the report says.
While Alabuga is a private enterprise, its main end user is the Russian state. It is a town in Yelabuga, an industrial park home to factories and warehouse facilities. The manufacturing complex specialises in drone production following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its Iranian-designed Shaheed attack drones and Albatross reconnaissance drones are manufactured at the industrial park.
“The Russian Ministry of Defence is the financial backer and end customer for Alabuga’s ‘kamikaze’ drones and the SEZ is owned by a department of the Republic of Tatarstan. It is a typical example of the kind of ‘grey zone’ public-private partnerships that have come to characterise Russia’s war economy in the Putin era. And although the Alabuga Start programme does not appear to be a state-directed initiative, it seems to have benefited from Russia’s diplomatic presence in countries where it recruits.
