Fresh concerns have emerged over Russia’s Alabuga Start Programme, with fears that the initiative originally designed for technical and industrial training is being used to covertly recruit Africans for the Russia-Ukraine war.
Diplomatic sources reveal that the programme’s operations are now under multilateral investigation following reports that several Kenyan youths were approached with promises of lucrative jobs or scholarships in Russia, only to end up in military training camps.
Others, including former soldiers, are said to have voluntarily joined the frontline lured by promises of better pay. According to a senior diplomatic insider, the inquiry involves coordination among intelligence and diplomatic channels across several nations, focusing on intermediaries and agencies linked to Russian institutions.
“The Alabuga Start initiative is being closely scrutinised. There is concern that it is being manipulated for covert recruitment into Russia’s war effort,” the source disclosed.
In September, Russian national Mikhail Lyapin was arrested, interrogated, and later deported from Kenya over alleged links to a recruitment network. While the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) initially claimed Lyapin worked for the Russian Embassy, the mission denied the connection, dismissing the claims as “anti-Russian narratives” spreading across Africa.
A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime revealed that 14 Kenyan women were among 200 Africans working under the Alabuga programme in Tatarstan. When Ukrainian drones hit the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in 2024, injuring several trainees, a video featuring a Kenyan participant emerged, expressing defiance against “Ukrainian threats.”
The same report noted that Kenyan authorities have questioned how the recruits obtained travel documents, raising concerns about possible loopholes in passport issuance.
While Russia maintains the programme is purely educational, mounting evidence suggests it may be part of a wider effort to bolster its war front through foreign recruits a development that continues to alarm African governments.
