According to an AP investigation, about 200 African women are currently working at a factory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, a key Russian drone producer.
Points of attention
- Russian recruitment program lures African women to work in a drone factory in Tatarstan under false pretenses, deceiving them into assembling drones for warfare against Ukraine.
- The working conditions in the factory include long 12-hour days, low wages, and strict surveillance, highlighting exploitation and potential human trafficking concerns.
- To fill Russia's labor shortage, women aged 18-22 from various African and South Asian countries are targeted, with promises of monthly pay that later drops to lower amounts as revealed by the investigation.
- The Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, initially aimed at attracting business, has now shifted to military production, with the factory becoming a key producer of Iranian attack drones.
- The introduction of a new law by the Russian government raises concerns about the persecution of migrants, particularly in relation to military service, posing additional legal threats to vulnerable groups.
Russia recruits African women to work in the defense industry by deception
African women recruited to work in Russia say they were duped into assembling drones for use in the war against Ukraine.
According to journalists, ads on social networks promised young African women a free plane ticket, money and "adventures" in Europe. It was only necessary to pass a computer game and a test of knowledge of the Russian language with 100 words.
But instead of going through an internship program, the women were brought to Tatarstan, where they learned they would be working at a weapons factory assembling thousands of Iranian attack drones for launch in Ukraine.
The company is only engaged in the production of drones. Nothing else, said one of the interviewed women.
The workers are under constant surveillance in dormitories and at work, have 12-hour days and are paid less than expected — details confirmed by three other women.
The factory management is apparently trying to prevent the African women from leaving, although some of them have reportedly left or found work in other regions of Russia.
To fill Russia's acute labor shortage, the Kremlin is recruiting women aged 18-22 from countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as from the South Asian country of Sri Lanka.
For this, an online recruitment program called Alabuga Start was created. Russian officials also visited more than 26 embassies in Moscow to promote the program. According to the ads, Alabuga Start initially promised recruits $700 a month, but that figure later dropped to "over $500."
The program's Facebook page says that in the first half of this year, 182 women were hired, mostly from Central and East African countries. The program also recruits in South America and Asia "to help women launch their careers."
According to Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Russia's actions "potentially meet the criteria for human trafficking if the recruitment is fraudulent and the goal is exploitation."
Special economic zone "Alabuga" was created in 2006 to attract business and investment to Tatarstan. It expanded rapidly after the invasion of the Russian Federation, and, as satellite images show, part of the enterprises switched to military production. Initially, Iran sent Shahed-136 drones to Russia in disassembled form, but later production was transferred to Alabuga. Now Alabuga is the main Russian factory for the production of drones.
The Kremlin's new law confirms the persecution of migrants
On July 31, the State Duma of the Russian Federation approved a draft law that provides for the deprivation of citizenship of migrants if they do not report for military service.
According to British intelligence, after the law is signed, the practical consequences for Russian conscription are likely to be limited.
However, independent Russian media continue to report on the persecution of migrants by law enforcement agencies, in particular with the aim of recruiting them to the army. The new law provides another form of legal coercion in this regard, the intelligence agency writes.
