Lured by lucrative job offers and sent to fight for Russia. Kenyans want their sons back

David Kuloba’s mother warned him against leaving for Russia after he accepted a job as a security guard advertised by a recruitment agency in Kenya.

At first the family, who live in the crowded informal settlement of Kibera in the Kenyan capital, had been excited when he told them he had found work abroad – it seemed like a rare break.

The 22-year-old did casual work in Nairobi – from selling peanuts to construction jobs – and had long hoped to find work in the Gulf.

But when his mother asked him which country he was heading to, his answer shocked her.

“He showed me his phone and said, ‘Look, it’s Russia,'” Susan Kuloba told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

“I told him: ‘Don’t you see what they show on television about Russia? It’s never good,'” she recalls.

But his son insisted the offer was genuine, telling him he was promised more than $7,000 (£5,250) when he arrived – a life-changing sum for a young man without a stable income.

Despite her protests, he went to Russia in August without informing her of the exact date of his departure.

She was shocked when he contacted her later, telling her he had arrived and sending her a photo of himself in full combat uniform.

“He told me, ‘Mom, the work we were told to do has been changed, but even this one isn’t bad,'” she said.

His son said he and other Kenyan men had undergone two weeks of combat training and were heading to the combat zone in Ukraine, which will be invaded by Russia in 2022.

A few days later, he told her that he and others had been ambushed in an area controlled by Russian forces. She begged him to come home.

“I said, ‘David, please leave this place.’ He said to me: “How can I leave? I signed a contract. Give me at least a year.

“Then I got the message I feared,” Ms. Kuloba said.

It was October 4. David had sent her a voice note saying he was about to go into combat and that in case he didn’t survive, he wanted her to have the details of his Russian military ID and contract, which were written in Russian.

He urged her to take the documents to the Russian embassy if anything happened to her.

That was the last time she heard from him.

Confused and terrified, she soon after sought help from her son’s friend, who told her he had heard that David was dead.

“I asked his friend, ‘How do you know?’ He said to me: “Let me give you the number of the agent who received us in Russia.”

Ms. Kuloba sent a message to the number – the responses came in Russian at first. When she identified herself, the person told her in English that David was missing and that he was feared dead.

“I’m sorry to tell you this about your son,” the officer said.

She asked for a photo of his body or confirmation that David was in the morgue. None came.

The contact told her he was “very far away” and suggested she go to Russia herself or send another relative, which she said the family could not afford.

Later, the same contact told her that she was “entitled to compensation” for her son’s death, but again without providing any documentation.

Ms. Kuloba says she has been unable to get official confirmation from Russian authorities about David. When she visited the Russian embassy in Nairobi, officials told her they were not “associated with the military.”

She doesn’t know what to do anymore and is distressed: “Where to start? Because we don’t know anything. He was my firstborn. I depended on him.”

The father of another Kenyan who went to work in Russia told the BBC he was recruited knowing he would be a driver, which had nothing to do with armed combat.

The young man ended up injured in Ukraine and has been too traumatized to speak since returning home two weeks ago. The BBC has agreed not to identify him to protect his well-being.

His father only discovered his son had traveled to Russia after learning he had been injured.

“He had suggested people were leaving and I discouraged him,” the father told the BBC. “I followed the war from the start. I wasn’t comfortable.”

The agents had promised about $1,500 a month, he said, “a good amount” for a qualified driver in Kenya.

His son later told him that, like David Kuloba, he had only trained for two weeks before being sent to the battlefield.

“He said he was injured in the bush and for five days he couldn’t find treatment. He was taking painkillers,” the father explained.

He was eventually taken to the border where he received first aid and then transferred to St. Petersburg.

He had described seeing “scattered bodies of other fighters” and explained that many like him had signed one-year contracts without fully understanding the terms, the father said.

Last month, Kenya’s foreign minister said some 200 Kenyans were fighting for Russia and acknowledged that recruitment networks were still active.

This followed news in September that a young Kenyan athlete had been captured in Ukraine, claiming he had been lured into joining the Russian army.

The government now says several recruitment agencies are under investigation and some licenses have already been suspended.

“Some agencies lure young people by promising them large payments. The government is tracking down agencies linked to this fraud,” Sylvanus Osoro, Kenya’s parliamentary majority leader, told the BBC.

Of about 130 registered recruitment agencies in Kenya, about five have been reported, three have already been suspended and two others are under investigation, he said.

Parliament’s Defense and Foreign Relations Committee took up the matter and the agencies it summoned had to explain how they recruited the youths, what information they provided and how the contracts were presented, Osoro said.

But families whose loved ones unexpectedly fought for Russian forces have criticized the government for being slow to respond, feeling helpless.

Stressing on steps taken to repatriate those who were lured into combat roles, Osoro said the process must follow the diplomatic route.

“A contract is signed voluntarily, even if they were not aware of it,” he said. “This can only be handled diplomatically. These engagements are happening.”

He said all known cases had “been mapped” and authorities were verifying the circumstances under which the contracts were signed. But he refused to confirm how many Kenyans may have died.

“I wouldn’t make such a report. It’s not for me,” he said. “What I can say is that the work is underway.”

Osoro said new legislation was being drafted to strengthen controls on recruitment agencies, including stricter screening before licensing and clearer distinctions between categories of work.

The problem extends beyond Kenya. Authorities in several African countries have reported cases where young people were offered lucrative jobs in Russia, which then led to military recruitment.

Many families are reluctant to speak out publicly, fearing stigma or uncertainty about the legal implications for their loved ones abroad.

In South Africa, it became a major scandal after it was alleged that a daughter of former president Jacob Zuma was involved in the recruitment process. She denies any wrongdoing.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that anyone fighting for Russia would be treated as an enemy combatant and that the only safe outcome was to surrender and be treated as a prisoner of war.

Ms. Kuloba still has no official confirmation of her son’s fate. She would like his body to be repatriated if he dies.

“I’m just heartbroken,” she said. “He wanted to help us. He thought he was looking for a better job.”

Additional reporting by BBC Newsday’s Maureen Nyukuri in Nairobi

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