POLITICO: Russia uses fake job ads to lure foreigners into Ukraine war

Russia is using online advertising and Western digital infrastructure to recruit foreigners for its war in Ukraine, targeting workers in Africa, Asia and Belarus with job offers that can conceal the military nature of the contracts, according to a new investigation by POLITICO and the non-profit organisation Code for Africa.

The investigation identified 89 websites, seven social-media accounts and 39 accounts or channels on messaging platforms linked to the recruitment network, with new resources appearing regularly. Recruiters primarily target young men facing unemployment or financial difficulties, offering jobs in construction, security, the film industry or assistance with obtaining Russian visas.

In one case, an advertisement presented a “global casting” for African men for a new film project. The advert was posted on a Facebook page based in Germany and used an AI-generated image of men dressed in military-style clothing. Another advertisement, sponsored by “IRC Russian Bear,” offered $15,000 immediately after a contract was signed and a monthly salary of $3,000, alongside the message: “A chance to change your life.”

According to the investigation, applicants who follow the advertisements can be redirected to recruitment websites that do not initially disclose that the work involves military service. Researchers found that the operation relies extensively on Western technology.

The network's flagship recruitment brand was hosted on a server in Amsterdam, while websites associated with the campaign were built using artificial intelligence tools developed by companies in the United States and Sweden. Application forms used software from an Austrian company to collect prospective recruits' personal information before the data was transferred to Russia.

“Behind this Western layer are ordinary Russian commercial hosting providers, and behind them — a bulletproof hosting level created to withstand any complaints. As a result, Africans, Asians and Belarusians are being sold a war using the tools of countries that publicly oppose it,” the researchers wrote.

Meta and Google said they were taking action against advertisements associated with the recruitment operations. Code for Africa said Meta had removed more than 300 advertising campaigns linked to the recruiters, while Google disputed some of the investigation's findings concerning the extent of its advertising technology's use and said it was reviewing the report.

The overall number of foreigners recruited by Russia is not independently verified. Ukrainian officials have estimated that between 1,700 and 1,800 people from 36 African countries have been recruited to fight for Russia. Moscow disputes allegations of organised recruitment and says African nationals joined the Russian military voluntarily.

The recruitment campaign is part of a broader pattern in which foreign nationals are offered lucrative employment opportunities in Russia before being drawn into military service. Previous reports have documented recruitment efforts targeting people in Africa and elsewhere through promises of high salaries, employment and other benefits.

Women have also reportedly been recruited in African countries for jobs at Russian factories producing drones and weapons. Advertisements have appeared on billboards in major African cities, including Nairobi. The outlet has reported that young women were recruited to work assembling “Shahed” drones at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan after being promised positions in the service and catering sectors.

According to those reports, the advertised jobs turned out to be a deception.

By Tamilla Hasanova