Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have entered into new agreements with a Russian industrial zone linked to the manufacture of attack drones used in the war against Ukraine. The deals come as a Ukrainian investigation alleges that Moscow is broadening a recruitment system that brings young African women to Russia to work in its military-industrial sector.
Signed in late October with Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, the agreements were announced months after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on people and organizations connected to the Alabuga Start program. British officials accused the initiative of misleading foreign recruits. The latest partnerships have renewed concerns that Russia may be turning to overseas labor to keep drone production running during its prolonged war.
The Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre says internal records reviewed during its investigation identify roughly 50 African women working at Alabuga, as well as 10 Russian recruiters and two African intermediaries who allegedly helped bring foreign workers into the program.
Fragments of a Russian-made, Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drone — known in Russia as a Geran-2 — are displayed alongside other recovered drones, glide bombs, missiles and rockets in Kharkiv on July 30, 2025. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
“We were able to secure internal documentation,” Solomiya Khoma, the centre’s head of international cooperation, told News Media in an exclusive interview.
Khoma said the work sought to map the recruitment system across national borders, including the alleged links between Russian cultural groups, regional intermediaries and Alabuga’s human resources division. “Our investigation is focused specifically on African countries,” she said.
The report describes a three-stage structure. Russian cultural and educational organizations allegedly build relationships with young people in Africa; local agents then advertise opportunities in Russia; and Alabuga staff handle employment arrangements and travel logistics.
A satellite image shows the possible planned site of a UAV manufacturing facility in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, amid evidence of expanding Russian-Iranian cooperation, in this handout obtained on June 9, 2023. (White House/Handout via Reuters)
Investigators named two women from Tunisia and Uganda as alleged recruitment coordinators and said they had identified links to Russian human resources officials and other foreign workers. News Media has not independently confirmed the women’s alleged roles.
Khoma said some of the information came from a confidential source who remains employed at the Alabuga industrial complex.
“This individual continues to work in the Alabuga economic zone and in these factories,” she said, citing the need to protect the source’s identity.
According to Khoma, researchers obtained details about employees and their identities, including copies of internal access cards.
The investigation also examined the role of Russian cultural organizations, including councils representing Russian compatriots and the Russkiy Mir Foundation, in publicizing education and employment programs in African nations.
It cites a cooperation memorandum signed in September 2024 between Tunisia’s council of Russian compatriots and Alabuga, as well as Russian cultural initiatives in Uganda. However, the report does not prove that Russian diplomats or cultural bodies knowingly sent recruits into military drone manufacturing.
The findings follow an Associated Press investigation published in October 2024. That report found that African women who had been promised education and civilian jobs were instead assigned to produce Iranian-designed attack drones. Some workers reported exhausting shifts, wages below what they had been promised, close monitoring and exposure to dangerous chemicals.
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 recruits travel to Russia expecting to study while earning money, but later encounter entrance exams or Russian-language requirements that they cannot pass.
“They are offered what is presented as a combined education and employment opportunity,” she said.
Once they fail the required tests, Khoma alleged, some workers have few alternatives. Unable to pay for a journey home, they may end up working in factories rather than entering the educational programs they were promised.
The recruitment operation has drawn scrutiny beyond Ukraine. On May 5, 2026, the British government sanctioned seven people and organizations connected to Alabuga Start, alleging that the program used deceptive methods to secure foreign labor for factories producing military drones.
Despite that pressure, 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 intended to create industrial employment opportunities for Ghanaian citizens. Ghana’s ministry said it would oversee recruitment, confirm the legitimacy of job offers and provide workers with information before departure.
In a separate development, CongoRassure reported on October 30 that the Democratic Republic of the Congo had signed a five-year memorandum covering vocational training and efforts to improve 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)
Neither agreement, based on the details made public, says that either government plans to send workers into military manufacturing.
Khoma said any international response should focus not only on Alabuga but also on the broader recruitment infrastructure, including intermediaries, payment systems and organizations that help arrange foreign labor.
She characterized Russia’s overseas recruitment drive as a sign of worsening labor shortages in an economy operating under wartime pressure, and said it could provide another avenue for international sanctions.
“If Russia did not have this assistance from abroad, sustaining the war for as long as it has would be much more difficult,” she said.
Nationals from African countries watch television in a designated area at a detention facility in western Ukraine holding foreign fighters captured while serving with Russian forces on the Ukrainian front on November 26, 2025, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, numerous reports have described African nationals fighting for 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 Media has sought comment from Alabuga, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and government officials in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tunisia.