Kenya’s foreign minister meets his Russian counterpart amid reports that hundreds of Kenyans were recruited to fight in Russia and Ukraine.
Posted on March 16, 2026
Russia has agreed to stop recruiting Kenyan citizens to fight with its army in Ukraine, Kenya’s foreign minister said.
More than 1,780 citizens from 36 African countries are believed to be fighting alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine, according to Ukraine estimates from February.
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“We have now agreed that Kenyans will not be enlisted through the (Russian) Ministry of Defence,” Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi told reporters on Monday.
He made the statement while sitting next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the two held talks in Moscow, Russia.
“His Excellency has discussed with us the issue of the welfare of Kenyans in Russia and more specifically those participating in the special operation,” Mudavadi said.
“There will be no more enlistments.”
Mudavadi added that consular services will be arranged for those Kenyans who need assistance through appropriate diplomatic channels.
“We do not want, for any reason, our partnership with Russia to be defined solely from the point of view of the special operation agenda (in Ukraine),” he said. “The relationship between Kenya and Russia is much broader than that.”
Lavrov did not mention the deal in his media statements, but said the Russian Defense Ministry was investigating cases that had caused “concern among our Kenyan friends.”
“Russia is not forcing anyone to enlist,” Lavrov said.
He said Kenyan citizens had voluntarily signed contracts to fight alongside the Russian army.
A Kenyan intelligence report presented to lawmakers in February said more than 1,000 Kenyans had been recruited to fight on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, five times more than authorities had previously estimated.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been widely accused of recruiting foreign nationals to fight alongside its military.
Kenyan politicians have described what they say is a network of dishonest state officials who have colluded with human trafficking syndicates “to” recruit Kenyans to fight for Russia in Ukraine, a practice Nairobi said it wanted to stop.
In November, reports emerged that a group of South Africans aged between 20 and 39 had traveled to Russia in the hope of receiving security training.
Instead, they were soon forced to form a paramilitary force and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
