About 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow, the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia’s southern Tatarstan region has undergone a dramatic expansion of its secret drone manufacturing facilities.
One of the keys to the operation, which is critical to the Kremlin’s war on neighboring Ukraine, has been the use of African women in the workforce. But many of the women have said they were duped into these dangerous jobs and are not allowed to leave.
Several of the African participants’ home countries are unaware of their predicaments, according to Institute for Science and International Security founder David Albright, who exposed the situation in a 2024 report.
“In some of the initial investigations of this, the recruiters in Africa were oblivious when they were asked where these women were going,” he told Voice of America. He added that some countries have been made aware, and he hopes there will be “pushback from these governments about what exactly [Alabuga is] recruiting these women to do.”
Built in 2023, the facilities in Alabuga are owned by the Russian government and were financed in part by the Ministry of Defense. Russia has escalated its drone attacks substantially in recent months, with strikes rising from around 400 in May 2024 to more than 2,400 in November, according to CNN.
Before it was removed from several social media platforms in 2024, a slick online marketing campaign called “Alabuga Start” shared hundreds of recruiting videos targeting African women with the promise of a good-paying job and a free flight to Russia.
The actual job: manufacturing Iranian-designed Shahed-136 military drones for the war on Ukraine.
About 200 African women, most between 18 and 22, work at the Alabuga drone factory, according to The Associated Press. They are from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Uganda. AP spoke to four African women for an investigation it published in October 2024. One, whose work included assembly of drone airframes, called the job “a trap,” adding that the cost of accommodations, airfare, medical care and Russian-language classes were deducted from her salary.
“[The African women are] maltreated like donkeys, being slaved,” she said.
In a 2024 analysis, the Robert Lansing Institute for Global Threats and Democracies Studies charged Russia with exploiting “not only Africa’s natural resources but also its people — victims of economic crises — through deception and restrictions on their freedom.”
“The exploitation of African women in this manner aligns with previous findings about Russia’s colonial policies in Africa. Russia’s actions are filling labor shortages caused by the mobilization of men for the war in Ukraine, a war also marked by colonial motivations.”
Albright said the Kremlin’s recruiting campaigns continue, as representatives from Alabuga recently visited Madagascar, Sierra Leone and Zambia, where they signed agreements with local organizations. VOA reported in December 2024 that most of the involved African countries have neither intervened nor given an official response. Some even appear to have ties with the Russian recruiting program.
Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education shared a document online announcing open admissions to Alabuga Start in 2023. Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sport shared a similar announcement. VOA found two files that appear to be official letters from the government ministries of Mali and Burkina Faso announcing that Alabuga Start had reserved spots for participants from those countries in 2023.
Because African citizens have gotten caught up in Russia’s war machine, Albright issued a warning to their home countries against inaction.
“It’s been a very deceptive program in the sense that the applicants didn’t know they’d be working in essentially a U.S.- [and] European-sanctioned company making drones that are being used to devastating effect against Ukrainian civil targets, energy targets, electrical plants,” he told VOA.
“And so, in that sense, they’re complicit in a crime, an international crime, given that the war against Ukraine is illegal. They’re getting involved in making drones that are being used against civilian targets, not just military targets.”
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