Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: KENYA’S Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi has said Russia agreed to stop deploying Kenyan nationals to fight in the war in Ukraine, after talks in Moscow.
Sitting beside his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Mudavadi said both sides had agreed that Kenyans would no longer be recruited through Russia’s defence ministry. “They will no longer be eligible to be enlisted,” he said.
Lavrov insisted that all foreign fighters had joined voluntarily ”in full compliance with Russian law”. A Kenyan intelligence report in February warned that more than 1,000 citizens had been recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
Some Kenyans have said they were lured to fight for Russia with promises of well‑paid civilian jobs, only to find themselves forced into fighting in Ukraine.
Mudavadi is also seeking the repatriation of Kenyans who wish to return home.
He last month told the BBC that Kenyan authorities had closed more than 600 recruitment agencies suspected of duping Kenyans with promises of jobs overseas.
Kenyan lawmakers say rogue state officials have been working with human trafficking networks to recruit citizens to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
So far 27 Kenyans who had been fighting in Russia have been repatriated, with authorities providing psychological care to address their trauma and “de-radicalise” them, Mudavadi said. In February, families of Kenyans believed to be fighting in Ukraine held a protest outside Parliament in Nairobi, calling for government action and the return of their relatives.
During his visit to Moscow, Mudavadi intends to negotiate an agreement allowing Kenyans easier access to the Russian job market.
