Russia hires African farmers to produce shampoo, then tricks them into going to war against Ukraine. Some of them die on the battlefield, others are captured.
This is reported by The Telegraph.
Thatʼs what happened to 36-year-old Jean Onana from Cameroon. A job posting at a Russian shampoo factory seemed like just what Onana needed. With no job and three children to feed, he set off for Moscow in March 2025.
But Onana had barely landed in Russia when he and 10 other men from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Ghana were detained. The Russians said there would be no work. Instead, the men would sign a one-year contract with the Russian army and fight against Ukraine. They were then sent for a short combat training session, and shortly before the fighting began, their phones were confiscated.
According to Onana, after training, he was immediately sent to a dugout under fire, where he was the only survivor out of nine people. He lay in the rubble for six days before being captured by Ukrainian soldiers.
Another African, 25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal, said he was recruited as a dishwasher in Luhansk with a salary of $5,700. But a week later he was on the front lines with an assault rifle. Seeing the dead in the forest, he deserted — he was captured two days later.
25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal
In recent months, dozens of reports of missing men have appeared on Cameroonian social media. Relatives are posting photos of them in military uniform and asking for help. Some posts are edited to say that the person has been found dead. One popular social media account has already counted 67 dead Cameroonians.
Africans are flocking to Russia in search of higher wages. The basic monthly salary for a private second class in Cameroon is around $90, while Russia is reportedly offering Cameroonian recruits over $2,000 per month.
The Cameroonian government is so concerned about the number of soldiers who are likely to desert and go to Russia that in March it restricted the departure of army personnel from the country.
- Back in the fall of 2024, the Associated Press reported that Russia was fraudulently recruiting women from Africa and forcing them to assemble drones for the war against Ukraine. Social media ads promised young African women free plane tickets, money, and adventures in Europe. But instead, the women were assembling drones in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan.