Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have signed new agreements with a Russian industrial zone tied to the production of attack drones used against Ukraine, as a Ukrainian research group alleges that Moscow is widening a recruitment network targeting young African women for work in its military-industrial sector.
The deals, signed in late October with Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, were announced months after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on people and organizations linked to the Alabuga Start program. British officials accused the initiative of using misleading recruitment tactics. The new agreements have renewed scrutiny of whether Russia is relying on overseas workers to keep drone manufacturing running during its war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre says it obtained internal records pointing to roughly 50 African women working at Alabuga, as well as 10 Russian recruiters and two African intermediaries allegedly involved in bringing foreign workers to the complex.
The wreckage of a Russian-made, Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drone, known in Russia as a Geran-2, is displayed alongside other recovered drones, glide bombs, missiles and rockets in Kharkiv on July 30, 2025. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
“We were able to obtain internal documentation,” Solomiya Khoma, the centre’s head of international cooperation, told News Outlet in an exclusive interview.
Khoma said the inquiry sought to map how the recruitment system functions across borders, tracing links among Russian cultural groups, local intermediaries and Alabuga’s human resources department. “Our case focuses specifically on African countries,” she said.
The report describes a three-tiered system: Russian cultural and educational organizations building contacts with young Africans, local agents advertising opportunities overseas, and Alabuga staff managing hiring and travel arrangements.
A satellite image shows the possible planned site of a UAV manufacturing facility in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, amid evidence of growing Russian-Iranian cooperation, in this handout obtained on June 9, 2023. (White House/Handout via Reuters)
The investigation names women from Tunisia and Uganda as alleged recruitment coordinators and details their reported links to Russian human resources officials and foreign workers. News Outlet has not independently verified their alleged roles.
Khoma said the research drew in part on a confidential source who remains employed inside the Alabuga industrial complex.
“This person continues to work in the Alabuga economic zone and at these factories,” she said, citing the source’s ongoing employment as the reason for withholding their identity.
Investigators, she added, obtained details about workers and their identities, including copies of internal employee passes.
Researchers also examined the role of Russian cultural organizations, including councils representing Russian compatriots and the Russkiy Mir Foundation, in publicizing education and employment opportunities across Africa.
The report highlights a September 2024 cooperation memorandum between Tunisia’s council of Russian compatriots and Alabuga, as well as Russian cultural initiatives in Uganda. However, it does not prove that Russian diplomats or cultural bodies knowingly funneled recruits into military drone manufacturing.
The findings follow an Associated Press investigation published in October 2024. That report found that African women recruited with promises of education and civilian jobs were instead assigned to produce Iranian-designed attack drones. Some workers reported lengthy shifts, wages below what they had been promised, close surveillance and contact with dangerous chemicals.
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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi arrive for talks on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow on October 30, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
Khoma said many women travel to Russia expecting to study while holding paid jobs, but later fail entrance exams or Russian-language assessments.
“They are promised an opportunity to pursue a dual education,” she said.
Once they fail the required tests, she alleged, workers can be left with few alternatives. Unable to pay for a trip home, some end up working in factories instead of enrolling in the programs they were promised.
The recruitment scheme has drawn international condemnation. On May 5, 2026, the British government sanctioned seven people and entities connected to Alabuga Start, accusing the program of deceptive practices designed to bring foreign labor into facilities manufacturing military drones.
Despite that scrutiny, Russia’s engagement with African governments appears to be moving forward.
Ghanaian broadcaster Citi News reported on October 29 that Labor Minister Emmanuel Agyekum had signed an agreement with Alabuga to create industrial employment opportunities for Ghanaian citizens. Ghana’s labor ministry said it would oversee recruitment, confirm job offers and provide workers with guidance before departure.
The following day, CongoRassure reported that the Democratic Republic of the Congo had signed a five-year memorandum centered on vocational training and stronger employment institutions.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama enter a hall ahead of talks on the sidelines of the third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow on October 30, 2026. (Anastasia Barashkova/Pool/Reuters)
Based on the public descriptions, neither agreement explicitly commits either government to supplying workers for military-related production.
Khoma urged governments to impose sanctions on the recruitment networks themselves, including intermediaries, financial conduits and organizations that help arrange foreign labor.
She said Russia’s overseas recruitment drive underscores the severe labor shortages affecting its wartime economy and could provide another avenue for international pressure.
“Without this effort abroad, without this assistance from abroad, it would be difficult for Russia to sustain the war for much longer,” she said.
Nationals from African countries watch television in a designated area where foreign fighters captured while serving with Russian forces on the Ukrainian front are being held at a detention center for Russian prisoners of war in western Ukraine on November 26, 2025, amid Russia’s invasion. Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, numerous reports have documented African nationals fighting alongside Russian forces, with some alleging that deceptive recruitment methods were used. In November, Kyiv said it had identified 1,426 fighters from 36 African countries serving in the Russian army. (Photo by Genya Savilov / AFP via Getty Images)
News Outlet has requested comment from Alabuga, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and government officials in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tunisia.
