A Kenyan athlete captured in Ukraine claims he was forced into joining the Russian army while visiting the country.
The man, who identified only as Evans, was captured by Ukrainian soldiers on the Vovchansk front in Kharkiv Oblast.
Evans has said he was ‘tricked’ into joining the Russian army while visiting the nation as a tourist.
‘I ended up in Russia without knowing that I had been enlisted in the Russian army. I didn’t want a military job. I had never served before’, he said in an interview with the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian army.
The athlete said his host in Russia offered him a ‘job’ a day before the end of his two week visit.
They gave him documents to sign, which turned out to be for a military post.
His passport and phone were withheld, while he was sent for a week of basic training and then onto the front line in Ukraine.
‘From that moment on, other people came for me. They told me to get in the car’, he added.
Evans eventually fled from the Russian army and surrendered to Ukrainian forces.
He described the brutal conditions in the Russian military camp, where soldiers were shouted orders and grabbed by their clothes.
Had he returned to Russia, he would have been killed, the athlete said.
Russia has enlisted foreigners from several Asian and African countries into its forces, sometimes through deception, including soldiers from allies including North Korea and Belarus.
Evans said in his interview that fellow recruits included several Africans and Tajiks.
Young women in South Africa were also targeted in a sleek PR campaign before being funnelled into ‘death’ factories which manufacture weapons for Putin’s war.
DJ and social media influencer Cyan Boujee was among those to use their online platform and huge fan base to promote the ‘opportunity’ which was advertised as coming with free lessons in Russian and accommodation.
Boujee later apologised for endorsing the recruitment programme.
South Africa’s government said it was investigating the scheme amid claims of ‘human trafficking’.
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