Amnesty International Investigates Russia's Predatory Recruitment Pipeline

Amnesty International says Russia's recruitment of foreign nationals into its war against Ukraine has relied on deception, coercion, and the exploitation of vulnerable people - and that the pattern documented in its research amounts, in many cases, to the crime of human trafficking. The findings come from a research briefing published in September 2026, "Russia: Trafficking of Foreign Nationals to Fight in Ukraine," based on six visits to two prisoner-of-war camps in western Ukraine between 2024 and 2026, interviews with dozens of POWs, and information from lawyers, activists, and other informants in several countries.

Of 15 third-country POWs interviewed - nationals of Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Somalia, and South Africa - only three said they had knowingly signed a military contract understanding they would be deployed to the war zone. Seven said they had been promised civilian jobs, and six more described circumstances that negate any voluntary consent. According to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatmen of Prisoners of War, at least 28,391 foreign nationals from 136 countries had been identified fighting with Russian forces as of April 2026.

Lured With a Job Offer, Signed Without Understanding

Amnesty documented a recruitment pathway that starts outside Russia, where people are approached with false promises of civilian work - as security guards, drivers, IT staff, or laborers - often with the added lure of a fast-tracked Russian passport.

"Nalin," a Sri Lankan interviewed in a POW camp in March 2026, was introduced by a friend to an employment agent who promised him a civilian security-guard job. He flew to Moscow with 58 other Sri Lankans, was driven to a facility, and signed a document in Russian with no translation offered. Among the papers he and the others signed, unknowingly, was a military contract - he was deployed to the front line after rudimentary training conducted in Russian, a language he didn't speak.

"Ahmed," from Somalia, told Amnesty in a March 2025 interview that he had "no job, no income, no future" and would have gone anywhere to obtain Russian citizenship. He joined with no military background, received what he described as "almost no proper training," and said he "found himself near the front line without even a weapon." He has since been unable to speak to his parents by phone or video call from the POW camp; they are illiterate, so they don't know whether he's alive.

"Joseph," a truck driver from South Africa, applied online for a driving job in Poland in late 2025. An agent who introduced herself as "Anzhelina" arranged his travel by WhatsApp - to Moscow, she said, only so he could pick up a truck and drive it on to Poland. According to his wife, once he landed in Moscow all communication stopped for two months. He was never sent to Poland. He had no military experience and received little training before becoming, in his wife's words, a soldier who "never got any money at all."

Trapped by Debt and Immigration Status Already Inside Russia

A second pathway, Amnesty found, targets migrants and refugees already living in Russia, using the threat of detention or deportation over an expired visa or residence permit to push them toward a military contract they're told will "regularize" their status.

"Nuwan," a Sri Lankan who had worked in a Burger King kitchen in Russia, was fined for overstaying his visa after he couldn't afford to renew it. A man who introduced himself as "a friend from India" then offered him a sign-on bonus, a salary, a residency permit, and a fast-tracked path to citizenship in exchange for a military contract. After two weeks of training at a facility called Avangard, he was sent to the front line and captured within a month. "Dinesh," a Sri Lankan held in the same camp, described an identical approach after his own work visa expired; he received a sign-on bonus of roughly $1,500-2,000 and two months' salary before he was captured.

"Ruben," a Cuban national serving a six-year prison sentence for drug possession and facing deportation, was offered a military contract instead - a Russian passport, a roughly $10,000 sign-on bonus, and a monthly salary. "I signed the contract because I did not want to be deported back to Cuba," he told Amnesty. He was wounded and hospitalized twice before his capture in January 2026.

"Daniel," from a Central African country, had received temporary protection in Russia after fleeing persecution. When Russian authorities refused to extend it - a decision he says was retaliation for his refusal to sign a military contract - he was arrested in the courtroom where he'd appealed the refusal. Held in detention for more than 70 days by the time he last wrote to Amnesty, he said military personnel had visited to ask detainees whether they were willing to sign contracts, and that he believed he would be deported if he kept refusing.

"Enrique," from Cuba, knowingly signed a military contract to obtain a Russian passport, but said he'd been told he would serve in a support role, not combat. He was sent for training on a "polygon" in occupied Luhansk, then to the combat zone, where his vehicle came under drone attack days later. He was captured on September 1, 2026.

"So You Can Run Faster": Passports and Armor Stripped Away

Several testimonies describe a common pattern once recruits reached Russian custody: passports and phones confiscated, movement restricted, and recruits moved between facilities without being told where they were going.

"Jorge," from Colombia, answered an online ad for civilian work and flew to Russia via Istanbul in November 2025. In Ufa, he was told to sign paperwork in Russian he didn't understand - among the first Russian words he learned were "bystro, bystro" ("hurry, hurry") and "potom" ("later"). After a bus journey to an unnamed camp, he was issued an assault rifle and a uniform despite insisting he was a civilian, and driven to a trench near the front. A man who said he was "the commander" arrived by drone-relayed instructions and stripped the armor plates from Jorge's protective vest - "so you can run faster," he told him. Jorge described the terrain as covered in bodies he mistook, at first, for mannequins. He refused to keep moving and stayed with a wounded compatriot until Ukrainian forces took them prisoner.

"Luis," also Colombian, had his passport taken at the Ufa airport by men he described as "three Russians and one African." He spent three days on a bus with seven other Colombians and 35 Africans, headed for the same kind of camp. "There were so many deaths," he said. "I heard rumours that those who refused to go were simply disappearing." He was deployed on November 29, 2025, and captured 11 days later.

"Pedro," an IT professional from Brazil who was recruited while working in Australia, thought he'd signed a contract for a well-paid IT job in Russia. He was instead taken to the Avangard center, described to him by staff as "a place for the guys who go to war." When he asked his commander if he could leave, he was told: "At some point you will leave. If you try to escape, you will either go to jail or we will kill you." He served 11 months before his capture and says he was never paid.

A Legal Framework Russia Isn't Enforcing

Amnesty's briefing argues the pattern of deception, withheld information, confiscated documents, and restricted movement can meet the legal definition of trafficking in persons under the UN's Palermo Protocol, which Russia has ratified, regardless of whether a recruit's initial consent appears voluntary - consent is legally irrelevant once fraud, coercion, or abuse of vulnerability has been used to obtain it. Russia's own criminal code criminalizes trafficking under Article 127.1, but Amnesty cites an ILO finding that only 16 people were convicted under that article in both 2020 and 2021, and 11 in 2022 - numbers Amnesty calls very low given the scale of the country's migrant labor market. Amnesty was designated an "undesirable organization" in Russia in May 2025, which it says has blocked it from investigating further inside the country.

Get Out Safely

Foreign nationals lured or coerced into Russia's armed forces have an option to safely leave the battlefield through Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project. Also see our guideline on how to safely surrender to Ukrainian forces.