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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Carlos Mureithi in Nairobi

‘I didn’t know how to shoot’: how African men have been tricked into fighting for Russia

The silhouette of a man next to a colourful curtain
One Kenyan man who was trafficked to fight for Russia in its war with Ukraine but managed to escape has shared his story under a pseudonym. Photograph: Carlos Mureithi

Stephen Oduor was looking forward to starting his new job as a plumber in Russia to support his family after months of unemployment. But soon after landing in St Petersburg from Nairobi with six other Kenyans one afternoon last August, he started feeling something was off.

The man who received them at the airport drove them to a house where their luggage was taken away and they were given black clothes and shoes to wear. Afterwards, they were taken to a police station where they were fingerprinted and forced to sign documents written in Russian, a language they did not understand.

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