Moscow is turning African women into hostages of the secret production of lethal drones. In the Republic of Tatarstan, within the Alabuga special economic zone, Shahed drones have been hand-assembled for over a year, mostly by young women from Uganda, Mali, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Sudan, Le Monde reports. 

“The deceptive nature of recruitment and the repressive working conditions may constitute a form of fraudulent exploitation,” the investigation states.

The women were not warned that they would be working in weapons manufacturing. Many believed it was a training program. However, the reality was horrific: long working days, constant supervision, harmful chemical exposure, punitive management, racism, and excessive surveillance.

Recruitment took place through social networks, intermediaries, and Russian embassies in Africa. Some recruits work directly on drone assembly, others as cleaners and kitchen staff.

The Alabuga special economic zone, financed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, has become an example of how “business, crime, and state” intertwine to strengthen Russia’s military machine.

In response to complaints, Botswana police have already appealed to Interpol to investigate human trafficking in this case.

His comrades died in their very first battle, and he was taken prisoner. Chinese national Wang Wu, known as Sabre, says he, like many other foreigners, was recruited under false pretenses, promised rear-line duties.

But after a brief training period, they were immediately thrown into frontline combat, including in a suicidal assault near Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast. 

A new report by I Want to Live, the Ukrainian state project, has exposed what happens to foreign recruits in the Russian army after signing contracts with Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

“I truly understand that we were deceived… I believe signing that contract was a shameful decision. I’m certain other Chinese citizens should know they are being lied to,” says the captured soldier.

According to the project’s representatives, most of the new recruits shown in videos from Russia’s 102nd Regiment are now either dead or severely wounded. Among the dead is Wang Wu’s friend, Yan Jingsheng, whose death he witnessed firsthand.

The project has stressed that foreigners in the Russian army are treated as nothing more than cannon fodder.

“If they don’t spare their own, why would they make exceptions for Asians or Africans?” the statement reads.

On 8 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that Ukraine captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting alongside Russian troops in the Donetsk Oblast. The operatives obtained their documents, bank cards, and personal data. An investigation and additional measures are ongoing. 

One of them paid $3,482 to join the Russian military through a Chinese intermediary. He explained that his main motivation was to obtain Russian citizenship through military service. He underwent basic training in occupied Luhansk alongside other Chinese citizens, with instruction conducted without formal translation.