Behind the billboards: Uncanny promises and deception of Russian recruitment

 

A billboard bearing Russian job recruitment.

A riddle is quietly building in the city with the emergence of a strange Russian name on billboards in parts of the country’s capital, Nairobi.

The billboards bear an uncanny promise that has been used to net, by deception, jobless youths into the Russian army.

The running advert promises training opportunities and employment in Russia at a time nearly one hundred families are demanding answers from authorities after the disappearance of their relatives said to have got jobs in Russia.

This also comes four months after a team from the National Employment Authority visited Russia, where they toured the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Tatarstan Republic, south-east of Moscow, described by international media as a discreet hub of war factories.

The country’s agency mandated to recommend safe destinations for Kenyans to get employment was hesitant to reveal details of its tour of Alabuga SEZ.  

The Authority’s Director Edith Okoki did not respond to follow-up questions around the number of African women her team met in Alabuga, refusing to divulge further information around what has been reported about the zone.

“In Tatarstan, we toured the Alabuga Polytechnic and the Pyramid, which serves as a residential facility for program participants”. She said in her response to The Standard

  “We met with beneficiaries of the Alabuga Start programme, who spoke positively about their experiences. We also sat in on a Russian language class where we met participants from other African countries including Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, and held discussions with the Alabuga SEZ management about their operations and the program”.

The two billboards spotting the name Alabuga may look innocent to job seekers who may have started sending applications based on the promise spread out in large font, strategically placed at the stretch of highway between Bunyala roundabout and Upper Hill. Another stares down at the sea of humanity running their errands at the busy OTC area along Race Course Road.

The board presented in colours of ripe oranges screams: Start your career journey- Alabuga Start programme, international community, 6 fields of work, free flight, salary from 700USD (Sh90,000). The advertisement provides a QR code, and below that an email adds [e-mail].

A letter to the email received a response of: Error: The address “[e-mail].” in the “To” field was not recognised. Please make sure that all addresses are properly formed.

The QR Code, however, took us to a website called Alabuga, HR-platform claiming in superfluous terms to be a unique online assessment tool for candidates and HR specialists. The website asks for a phone number for login and promises an SMS bearing an access code which is said to be sent to the phone number shared by an interested candidate. Further instructions suggest receipt of a code to join the Telegram Social group, which has been reported by authorities as the new way that Russian agents are using today in their illegal recruitment.

At the bottom of the page is the address which reads Elabuga District, Tatarstan Republic, Russia. The name that is spelt as Alabuga in investigation reports is therefore an anglicised form which is today used to refer to Russia’s Special Economic Zone.

A contact displayed on the billboard was picked by a woman who told us on Wednesday that she is called Claudia. Following our enquiries about the Alabuga advert, she politely said, “This must be a wrong number; I do not deal in Billboards”

A second call on Thursday was picked by a woman who told us her name was Brenda Chepkurui; she lives in Nairobi. She said, “Nafikiri umepiga wrong namba, mimi sifanyi Billboards (I think you are calling a wrong number; I do not work on Billboards)”

An entity promising jobs and can only be accessed through a QR Code that requests a phone number and the need to join the Telegram group serves to raise suspicion about what has been reported in international media on Alabuga. The billboards bear pictures of youthful African women with broad smiles.

International media has raised a red flag on the Alabuga program, describing it as more of a cheap labour camp used by Moscow to entrap youthful African women from several countries in Africa and the entire Global South to work in drone manufacturing factories.

In a 2025 expose BBC Africa Eye detailed a story of a woman said to have escaped Alabuga SEZ, narrating her experience in the zone

On her first day of work, Adau, not her real name, realised she had made a big mistake, BBC reported.

"We got our uniforms, not even knowing exactly what we were going to do.

From the first day of work, we were taken to the drones factory. We stepped in, and we saw drones everywhere and people working. Then they took us to our different work stations."

Twenty-three-years-old and originally from South Sudan, Adau said the previous year, 2024, she was lured to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, on the promise of a full-time job.

She had applied to the Alabuga Start programme, a recruitment scheme targeting 18-to-22-year-old women, mostly from Africa but also increasingly from Latin America and South-East Asia. It promised participants professional training in areas including logistics, catering and hospitality.

Earlier in July 2024, Russian independent media outlet Protokol reported how "Alabuga" transformed from a promising special economic zone to an assembly village for Iranian drones. The outlet said the situation in Alabuga was unique. Students played a key role in the production of kamikaze drones there. They were often minors, and they came to the much-hyped college seeking knowledge in new technologies and dizzying career advancement. “This is the case with Alabuga Polytechnic College”. Protokol said.

Mail Online last year (2025) reported that in November 2023, Russia struck a deal to manufacture Iranian drones at Alabuga. Facing manpower shortages, the country started recruiting foreign nationals to staff the zone’s drone factory, including young women and girls from African countries. This took place through the ‘Alabuga Start’ program, advertised ambiguously as an educational or joint study-industry scheme for African women aged 18-22. Some 2024 estimates reported that more than 1,000 African women had already been recruited to work in Alabuga’s weapons factories and that an additional thousand were expected that year. Given the ongoing recruitment campaign, the number in 2026 is likely much higher.

According to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, as of December 2024, 14 Kenyans had been employed at the Alabuga SEZ. According to the same report, around 400 Kenyan women had been issued passports to travel to Alabuga, making the number employed in the Alabuga SEZ in 2026 likely far higher. Although Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has publicly condemned the recruitment of Kenyans into the Russian military, calling it “unacceptable and clandestine”, the Kenyan government has not yet issued an official statement on the Alabuga Start program and its recruitment of Kenyan women

Labour Cabinet Secretary on his part has on two occasions denied knowledge of Alabuga. Responding to questions days after the authority that is domiciled in his ministry, NEA, visited the zone, Mutua said

“ I am hearing about that for the first time from you. I have not heard about it before,” he said during a phone interview with The Standard, adding, “Unless I consult.”

It was not the first time for Mutua to respond to enquiries about Alabuga the same way. Last year during campaigns for a Mandeleo Chap chap candidate for the Mumbuni ward Member of County Assembly seat, Mutua was quoted as having promised youths in the area jobs in Russia.

Asked about the promise and his knowledge of Alabuga, he said, “No, I have not promised anyone jobs in Russia. On Alabuga, I am hearing about it for the first time”

The Alabuga program now being advertised on the city streets has been accused of using deception in its recruitment practices, and of making its young recruits work in dangerous conditions for less pay than advertised. The program has made global headlines when South African influencers advertising it were last year accused of promoting human trafficking.