On 7 April, the government of Cameroon published a list of 16 of its citizens confirmed killed while fighting for Russia against Ukraine. That means the number of Cameroon citizens killed in this distant war has likely surpassed a hundred, making the country the biggest victim, in terms of confirmed deaths, of a Russian recruitment drive increasingly focused on Africa.

Conflict attrition

When Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, he probably assumed the war would be over in days, with the Ukrainian government quickly capitulating and leaving Russia free to install a puppet regime. But Ukraine chose to fight and the war has ground on past the four-year mark. Russia’s limited territorial gains have evidently come to a halt with no prospect of imminent victory. Donald Trump promised to end the war on day one of his presidency; when that didn’t happen, he set a hundred-day deadline for a peace deal, but so far there isn’t one in sight. Even a recent temporary ceasefire to mark the Orthodox Church’s Easter was repeatedly violated.

As the war drags on, Russia’s tactics have brought horrendous loss of life on both sides. Putin treats his soldiers’ lives as disposable, throwing wave after wave of troops at Ukrainian lines in what have been called ‘meat grinder’ assaults. Amid pervasive disinformation, casualty estimates vary widely. A project to count confirmed deaths puts Russian military fatalities at over 206,000, while some estimates reach 1.3 million. Despite passing new laws to call up more people, Russia is reportedly losing soldiers faster than it can replace them.

Putin has turned to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to help fill the gap: since 2024, North Korean forces have been fighting alongside Russian troops. Over 20,000 have been deployed, mostly in the fiercest fighting in the Kursk region, and they’ve paid a heavy price, with a reported 6,000 casualties. Russia has also recruited from neighbouring Central Asian countries and long-term allies such as Cuba. Ukraine too has brought in thousands of foreign fighters, including Colombian mercenaries, to serve in its International Legion. Now Russia is increasingly turning to Africa.

Russia’s African strategy

Putin has spent years cultivating relationships with African states, helping Russia resist international isolation and counter pressure from western states. The military relationship has been two-way: Russian mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group, now closely controlled by the government, have been deployed not just in Ukraine but in as many as 18 African countries, including Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Mali. In some, they fight alongside government forces against insurgent groups; in others, including Libya, where two rival governments contest power, and Sudan, home to a brutal civil war, they’re backing one of two sides fighting for power. Wherever they operate, Russian mercenaries are accused of committing human rights atrocities.

For several African states, warmer relationships with Russia have replaced ties with former colonial power France. France historically propped up brutal and corrupt post-independence regimes and maintained an essentially extractive relationship with its former colonies. Its troops, deployed in several Central and West African countries to fight insurgents, were broadly viewed as having failed, and most governments have expelled them or requested their withdrawal.

Russia’s arrival has come with some public support, cast as an alternative to France’s patronising approach that promises more equal partnerships, and drawing on old connections with the Soviet Union. When Wagner forces entered Mali in 2022, crowds lined the roads to greet them, waving Russian flags. Extensive pro-Russia disinformation campaigns typically precede Russia’s military involvement, laying the groundwork for such welcomes.

None of this has made any difference to the insurgencies Russia claims to be combating, and in some countries insurgents have grown stronger. The relationship is also extractive: in return for soldiers, Russia typically receives natural resources, including diamonds and gold, which help sustain a war that, despite Russia’s anti-imperialist posturing in Africa, is fundamentally imperial, since it seeks to conquer and control territory.

Repressive Central and West African governments, several run by military juntas or former army leaders who’ve traded their uniforms for civilian clothes, value a partner with no interest in scrutinising their human rights performance. Civil society organisations and media that try to expose human rights abuses by Russian forces come under attack.

From Africa to the frontlines

Russia is now exploiting the economic insecurity of many young African men, recruiting them to serve – and possibly die – on the Ukrainian front. Extensive civil society research published in February has verified that Russia has so far recruited 1,417 African nationals, with the true figure almost certainly higher. The numbers have increased year on year, indicating a systematic plan. Egypt has supplied the most recruits, followed by Cameroon and Ghana. Of 1,417 verified recruits, 316, 22 per cent, have reportedly been killed.

Some recruits have expressed support for Russia online. Others are attracted by the promise of Russian citizenship and wages that far exceed anything they could earn at home. They may compare Russia’s apparent openness, signalled by its recent relaxation of visa requirements, with Europe’s increasing hostility towards migrants, even though they may go on to face racism from Russian soldiers.

Others who’ve managed to escape report being conned. Fake job adverts made them believe they were signing up for civilian or support roles, including jobs as plumbers and security guards. A Kenyan athlete who served claims he was brought to Russia under the pretence of competing in races. On arrival, recruits are forced to sign Russian-language contracts they can’t read, given minimal training and dispatched to the frontlines. The average service length of those killed is just six months, evidence that Russia treats them as expendable. Some are reportedly sent on what are effectively suicide missions.

Intermediaries – including social media influencers who promote recruitment, travel agencies and people trafficking networks – are profiting from supplying recruits. In a bizarre political twist, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, a daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, is among those accused of recruiting African men, including some falsely told they’d be trained as bodyguards for her father’s party. In December, South African police arrested five people on charges related to the recruitment of South Africans, including a journalist known for spreading pro-Russia propaganda.

Pressure for accountability

Russia tends to deny recruitment is taking place and shrouds its military operations in secrecy, leaving the families of those killed with little hope of recovering their bodies or receiving compensation. But the evidence has accumulated and the accounts of those who’ve escaped are reaching audiences across the continent.

Several African governments have recently taken action. The government of Togo warned its citizens about the dangers and, when several Togolese soldiers were captured in Ukraine, confirmed they’d been lured there by false promises of jobs and educational opportunities. Last year, the government of Botswana announced it was investigating the cases of two young men who believed they were signing up for a short-term military training programme but were forced to fight. In February, Ghana’s foreign minister confirmed that at least 55 of his country’s citizens had been killed, and he travelled to Ukraine to seek the release of Ghanaian prisoners of war. Police in Kenya and South Africa have arrested people trafficking gangs and closed down recruitment agencies. The Kenyan government recently announced Russia had agreed to stop recruiting Kenyan citizens, offering evidence that sustained bilateral pressure can produce results.

But many other African governments remain in denial, placing warm relations with Russia above the lives of their citizens. By doing so, they’re making clear that those lives are as disposable to them as they are to Russia.

Far more states must press Russia to end its abusive recruitment practices. And for international partners who claim to care about the welfare of young Africans, there’s a clear starting point: help address the economic conditions that create a ready pool of desperate recruits and drop the hostile migration policies that make Russia, of all places, look like a desirable option.

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