**Advertisements for jobs in Russia.** [Courtesy]

The National Employment Authority has remained tight-lipped about ongoing advertisements for jobs in Russia at a time when hundreds of families are reeling from the effects of past recruitments.

The advertisements come three months after a delegation from the employment authority returned from what it described as a fact-finding mission to Russia, where it also visited a Tatarstan-based Special Economic Zone which the international media has reported as a hub for Russian war factories.

“No formal deals were signed. This was primarily a fact-finding mission,” said NEA Director General Edith Okoki upon returning home. “What the delegation did agree to was continued engagement with Alabuga SEZ on how to explore legitimate job opportunities for Kenyans, not in drone manufacturing as has been alleged, but in fields such as hospitality, manufacturing, education, and vocational training through the Alabuga Polytechnic.”

In her response to The Standard, Okoki promised that any opportunities that emerge from her discussions with officials in Alabuga would go through the full government vetting and sanctioning process. “The safety and welfare of Kenyan workers remain non-negotiable,” she added.

Pushed by affected families from across the country, the Foreign Ministry’s department of Diaspora Affairs has kept seeking more information from Russian authorities about Kenyans who joined the Russian army and are now described as missing in action.

The majority of them fell victim to deceptive recruitment by rogue agencies working with unscrupulous government officials, the National Intelligence Service said in its report to parliament. Some of the agents are facing charges before court.

Responding to our questions seeking an update on the progress of promised diplomatic engagements with authorities in Moscow, the diaspora affairs department said it has not received any update from Moscow on Kenyans who joined the Russian army and are missing from the war front line.

NEA whose mandate is to ensure Kenyans get safe destinations for employment in and out of the country has in the last few months disappeared from the communications space failing to respond to emails and calls as fresh advertisements for jobs in Russia run on select Billboards in parts of the city and posters spread online. The adverts promise training and what is claimed to be job offers for young Kenyan women.

**The National Employment Authority delegation during a visit to the Tatarstan-based Special Economic Zone**. [Courtesy]

“Work opportunity in Russia, Alabuga Start programme,” the online posters read, “Build your future go further; Calling Kenyan girls!”

In some rosy language, the posters talk of exciting international work opportunities available under the program. Those eligible must be female, aged between 18-22. They should possess a valid Kenyan passport and be willing to relocate to Russia and work under a 2-year employment contract.

The salary promise ranges between 1200 -2000USD, which loosely converts to is Sh154800 – Sh258,000.

In a country where the government pays a senior graduate teacher Grade C3 between Sh 43,000 and 53,000 per month such an offer is irresistible. The offer according to running adverts come with a free air ticket, hostel accommodation during training.

Calls to provided contacts on the online fliers were picked by a gentleman revealed by the Trucaller app as James Wambugu.

“Is this about the jobs in Russia advertisement,” he said and added, “That offer ended. But I am now in church, let me finish and will call back” the man said and did not call back.

Successive calls to the contact were met with missed calls- despite ringing, they would not be picked.

Questions as to whether NEA, the agency mandated by law to license employment agencies, is aware of the entities behind the advertisements have remained unanswered. Why would the advertisements emerge after NEA’s delegation returned from Russia is another question awaiting a response from NEA.

In its previous response to The Standard after returning from Russia NEA said the delegation also visited the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan.

“We toured the Alabuga Polytechnic and the Pyramid, which serves as a residential facility for program participants. We met with beneficiaries of the Alabuga Start programme, who spoke positively about their experiences.”

The team sat in a Russian language class where they met participants from other African countries including Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, and held discussions with the Alabuga SEZ management about their operations and the programmes.

Follow-up questions relating to the gender of the participants and how many were Kenyans compared to other African countries have not been responded to by NEA.

International media, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), The Guardian and the Daily Mail have reported that of the many important war programs hosted for the Kremlin, Tatarastan runs a huge investment that is a hub of factories and training institutions that host people, especially from Africa and the Global South, providing cheap labour to factories making drones that are used in the ongoing was against Ukraine.

In November last year (2025), the BBC published a story titled ‘My skin was peeling’ – the African women tricked into making Iranian-type drones. The main source whose identity the station protected because of security concerns, was a woman from South Sudan who narrated her experience at the Alabuga factories.

"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 workstations."

Said the 23-year-old lured to the Alabuga SEZ in the Republic of Tatarstan, who got there 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.

The program 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. It denies all these allegations but did not deny that some employees were helping to build drones, BBC reported.

That name, Alabuga, is the one spotted on Billboards erected in parts of Nairobi and on posters running online. One billboard stares down pedestrians and motorists at the Bunyala roundabout, another at the busy OTC area along Racecourse Road. The selection of the location speaks of a strategy to net as many job-seeking Kenyans as possible.

According to a 2025 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, as of December 2024, 14 Kenyans were employed at the Alabuga SEZ.

The report said around 400 Kenyan women had been issued passports to travel to Alabuga, making the number employed in Alabuga in 2026 likely far higher.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has publicly condemned the recruitment of Kenyans into the Russian military, calling it “unacceptable and clandestine,” but the government has not yet issued an official statement on the Alabuga Start program and its recruitment of Kenyan women.

In November 2023, Russia struck a deal to manufacture Iranian drones at the Alabuga SEZ. Facing manpower shortages, Russia started recruiting foreign nationals to staff the zone’s drone factory, including young women and girls from African countries.

This takes 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.