Russian Embassy in Ghana Calls Accra Anti-Recruitment Billboards "Blatant Lies". "I Want to Live" Has Four Questions for It.

The Russian Embassy in Ghana has responded to the billboards that were installed in Accra in late October with warnings about Russian army recruitment and informing on "I Want to Live" and "I Want to Find" projects and stoprussianrecruiters.org.

 In a statement dated November 5, the embassy called the campaign's claims "blatant lies". It said Russia has never used deceptive schemes to recruit foreign nationals and that no authoritative international body has presented convincing, verifiable evidence to the contrary.

The embassy also said the campaign has lost all meaning since President John Mahama's visit to Russia and urged Ghanaians “not to give in to provocations”.

"I Want to Live" replied, pointing out that the Russian embassy is contradicting Ghana's foreign minister. The project is asking the embassy four questions.

Ghana's Foreign Minister and the UN Say Otherwise

In February, Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told a news conference in Kyiv that many Africans fighting for Russia are victims of deception, lured on the dark web with promises of jobs. He said they had no security or military background and no training before being put on the front lines, Al Jazeera reported.

The UN Human Rights Council's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reached a similar conclusion in a report dated October 19, 2026, which the project cited in its reply. The commission found evidence that nationals of 29 countries were recruited into the Russian armed forces through deception or coercion. Ghana is among them, along with ten other African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe. The commission says the men responded to civilian job offers that looked lucrative and genuine and, soon after arriving in Russia, were forced to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence. 

Four Questions for the Embassy

"I Want to Live" asks Russian Embassy in Ghana. 

First Question for the Embassy

If everything was voluntary, why did Russia stop recruiting Ghanaians? And why does it keep sending citizens of Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burundi and other African countries to the front? The embassy's own statement says Ghanaians would not serve on a contract basis. We previously reported that Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Putin had declared Ghanaians no longer allowed to take part in the war

Second Question for the Embassy

What happened to the 335 Ghanaians who signed contracts with the Russian army? The project published a list of 147 of them in 2025 and says Russia has since more than doubled the number recruited. Have they been returned to their families? The 2025 list is below

The list names 147 Ghanaians who signed contracts with the Russian army between January 2 and June 28, 2025. By our calculation they were aged 19 to 47 when they signed, with a median age of about 32. The most contracts, 44, were signed in February. Names are transliterated from the Russian-language list and may differ from the original spellings, so the Russian versions are shown alongside.

Third Question for the Embassy

What happened to the 85 Ghanaians whose names the project published in its list of those killed in action? Do their relatives know what happened to them, and have their bodies been brought home to Ghana? The names were also published on Stop Russian Recruiters on the list of 485 Africans killed in Russia's army.

Fourth Question for the Embassy

Why were Ghanaian prisoners of war left behind? Several hundred foreigners recruited by Russia from 59 countries are held in Ukraine, the project says, including dozens of Africans from 18 African countries and three Ghanaians. It says Russia does not request them for prisoner exchanges. Why has Russia abandoned these men while it keeps recruiting new Africans?

The project says the embassy will not answer, which is why the billboards went up: so that Ghanaians and other Africans learn the truth before they get lured into danger by Russian recruiters. According to the sources of Stop Russian Recruiters, similar billboards are going to be installed in other cities.

Ghanaians and other foreign nationals lured into Russia's armed forces have an option to safely escape the battlefield with Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project. See our FAQ for recommendations for victims of Russian military recruitment and their families.