Arrived as a Tourist, Killed in an Assault: How Russia's Trap Claimed a Citizen of Mauritius

Ukraine's Defence Intelligence Directorate (DIU) has identified another killed foreign national fighting for Russia's military: Prakash Stiven Boakye, a citizen of the Republic of Mauritius, born April 16, 1995. He was killed approximately in December 2025 during an attempted assault crossing of Ukraine's state border in Sumy Oblast.

He had arrived in Russia six months earlier as a tourist.

The Sequence

On June 22, 2025, Boakye arrived in St. Petersburg. His return ticket was booked for July 21 - a month-long tourist visit. He did not leave.

On August 21, 2025, Russian authorities issued him a citation for illegal stay on Russian territory and fined him 7,000 rubles (~$89 USD). At this point he had no legal status, no job, and apparently no way home.

What happened next follows a pattern DIU has documented across dozens of cases. Boakye was offered a way out of his situation: sign a "short-term" contract with the Russian military. He agreed. After one week of training, he was deployed to the front as part of assault units. He was killed within months.

The Scheme

DIU describes the mechanism in detail. It runs as follows.

A visa is arranged for the target. A one-way ticket is purchased. Employment is promised. On arrival in Moscow or St. Petersburg, a middleman meets them and takes their passport - ostensibly to handle paperwork - and places them in a hostel. Within days it becomes clear: there is no job. The visa has been cancelled. There is no money for a return ticket home.

The person is then presented with three options: deportation with accumulated debts, imprisonment, or a military contract - the contents of which they frequently cannot understand due to the language barrier.

For someone who arrived with limited funds, no contacts, no documents, and no legal status in a foreign country, this is not a choice. It is a trap with a single exit.

Not Isolated

Boakye's case is one of hundreds that follow this structure. The tourist and labour migration pipeline targeting Africans has been documented across Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and beyond. Russia issues visas, arranges travel, collects passports on arrival, and uses the manufactured legal and financial crisis to coerce people into military contracts. The I Want to Live project has registered personal data on more than 28,000 foreign nationals from 135 countries who signed contracts with Russia's armed forces since 2022.

See also: Kenyan came for a driving job to Russia and ended up in Russia's army. He got out by faking insanity.

Mauritius had not previously appeared prominently in recruitment reporting. Boakye's case shows the reach of the scheme extends beyond the countries most commonly discussed - and that any African national in Russia without secure documentation and funds is potentially a target.

There Is a Way Out

DIU's publication of Boakye's identification carries a direct message to any foreign national currently inside Russia's military system: the only realistic chance of surviving this war is voluntary surrender.

Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project provides a verified, safe surrender channel: read more to learn how to use it.

Prakash Stiven Boakye arrived in Russia with a return ticket. He never used it.

Source: Defence Intelligence of Ukraine