Russia Recruiting Nigerians To Fight In Ukraine, Says EU Ambassador

The European Union (EU) Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, has raised the alarm over reports that Russia was recruiting Nigerians and other Africans to bolster its war efforts in Ukraine.

Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast show, ‘The Morning Brief’, on Monday, Mignot said civil society organisations have documented disturbing cases in which Africans were being lured to Russia with false promises of employment.

According to him, while some women were reportedly offered jobs in Russian military production facilities, men were allegedly being deployed to the front lines to fight in Ukraine.

“Russia is running out of soldiers, so they have been increasingly recruiting from Africa, including Nigerians, and it’s extremely crude sending these people, who have absolutely nothing to do with this war, to the front,” Mignot said.

He added that some of the recruits have already been captured by Ukrainian forces, a situation that has prompted reactions from several African governments, including Nigeria.

Russia has, however, denied the allegations, describing them as baseless. But Mignot insisted that the denials were inconsistent with available evidence.

“Testimonies from African recruits support these claims,” he said, adding that Moscow’s refusal to acknowledge the practice reflects “an unwillingness to stop it.”

The EU envoy also dismissed suggestions that Russia is winning the two-year-old war, asserting that the situation at the front remains at a stalemate.

“There is a stalemate at the front. In the last few weeks, it is actually Ukraine that has reclaimed a few hundred square kilometres of territory,” he stated.

The war between Russia and Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, when President Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions before launching what he termed a “special military operation.” The conflict has since killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

Mignot emphasised that a lasting resolution to the conflict cannot be achieved through military means alone, calling for sustained international pressure on Russia to embrace dialogue.

“There will be no peace on the battlefield,” he said. “The world must continue to urge Russia to come to the table.”