Foreign students and thousands of migrants in Russia are being sent by the government to fight in the war against Ukraine for visa renewal. According to a report by Bloomberg, Russia has been threatening not to renew the visas of African students and young workers unless they agree to join the military.
The assessment was done by some European officials who alleged that the Kremlin is using foreign students as extra manpower.
“Moscow has also been enlisting convicts from its prisons while some Africans in Russia on work visas have been detained and forced to decide between deportation or fighting. Some of those people had been able to bribe officials to stay in the country and still avoid military service,” an European official told the publication.
According to reports citing Ukrainian intelligence, Russia has engaged in a global recruitment drive to enlist foreign mercenaries in at least 21 countries, including several nations in Africa.
Army recruitment campaigns offer lucrative signing bonuses and salaries for those who’ll join up as contract soldiers.
Recruiters have also targeted migrants and students who previously looked for employment in Russia, and in some cases, have lured others over with promises of lucrative work before forcing them to train and deploy to the front.
