Lured into the country with lies Africans build drones for Moscow - without knowing it
A Russian work and study program lured mainly African women with false promises. They were not told that they were making drones for the war in Ukraine.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- In the Russian special economic zone Alabuga, drones are manufactured for the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, among other things.
- Numerous women from Africa and South America are employed there as part of a work and study program.
- Many of the women are unaware that they are producing drones.
- Alabuga is accused of luring the women to Russia with false promises and instrumentalizing them for the arms industry.
- The company denies the accusations, but admits to producing drones.
Alabuga's work and study program has a lot to offer: the Russian company offers full-time employment in one of three fields of their choice, a fixed salary, language courses and other training opportunities. At least on paper.
The reality is probably different. Back in May, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime made serious allegations: over 300 women, mainly from Africa and South America, were demonstrably lured into the special economic zone under false promises.
It is estimated that there are many more: There is talk of 1000 female workers from Africa alone. They were mainly used to manufacture drones - without knowing it.
South Sudanese ministry advertised for Russia
One of the women affected, Adau, has now described her experiences to the BBC. The woman did not want her surname or even a picture published because she did not want to be associated with the dubious program.
Adau came across the program in 2023, a year after the Russian attack on Ukraine, through an advertisement placed by the Russian government in the South Sudanese Ministry of Higher Education. South Africa is now warning its population about the program.
Due to the complicated process of obtaining a visa, it would take another year before everything was settled. Adau finally arrived in Russia in March 2024. She had to attend language courses for three months before her employment began. During this time, the young woman was still in good spirits. "I was very impressed," she tells the BBC. "I saw a lot of factories, cars and agriculture."
The lie of free choice of employment
But when she started her job, the broken promises began. Several amounts were deducted from the promised salary: for Russian lessons, internet access, travel to work. Anyone who didn't hand in their Russian homework or didn't turn up for lessons had to expect further cuts.
Adau was actually supposed to work in one of the three fields she had signed up for. But instead of working in a tower crane as she wanted, she found herself in a factory. Beforehand, she says, she had been assured several times by employees that participants in the program would only be deployed in the three fields they had selected.
For a long time, the young woman was not clear what kind of factory it was. "Claims that we were building drones felt like anti-Russian propaganda to me for a long time," she says. She assumed that the Russian economy simply needed African replacement workers for jobs that were done by Europeans before the war.
Gradually, Adau realized that she was producing weapons. Suddenly, an incident that had happened two weeks after her arrival made sense.
The target of a Ukrainian attack
On April 2, 2024, the Ukrainian army attacked the area where she and other participants in the Alabuga program were staying. The hostel next to her own was destroyed. At the time, it was Ukraine's deepest attack on Russian territory to date.
The Ukrainian army rejected accusations of an attack on civilians. It was aimed at producers of Russian drones. Adau did not know at the time that this meant her.
When she finally realized what she had been brought to Russia for, she quit her job at Alabuga. She had to stay at the factory for another two weeks because of a notice period. During these two weeks, she says, she was made to paint the outer shells of the drones with chemicals. She suffered burns on her skin in the process. The protective clothing she was given was useless.
In a statement to the BBC, Alabuga stated that it provides its staff with the necessary protective clothing. The company denies allegations of misleading recruitment practices, but not that some of its employees are used to produce drones.
