The Russian government has rejected claims suggesting that young Nigerian women are being recruited into suicide drone manufacturing facilities under the pretence of a scholarship program, labelling these allegations as untrue, colonial in nature, and part of a smear campaign funded by Western interests.
This denial was issued in a statement released by the Russian embassy.
The statement addresses the growing media scrutiny, especially from Nigerian media, regarding the operations at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Alabuga, Tatarstan.
News360 Info reports that the post characterised recent news articles, which reported that Nigerian women were supposedly enticed into military drone production jobs in Russia, as “a plethora of fiction.”
It accused “pro-Western paid writers” of fabricating narratives about human trafficking, forced labour, and prostitution within the Alabuga zone.
In response to specific claims that Russian recruiters were targeting African and Asian youth on social media with deceptive promises of education and lucrative salaries, the Russian statement refuted any occurrence of exploitation.
The post reads, “The Nigerian press has drawn attention to the interest in the topic of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Alabuga. Some local publications, particularly sophisticated in their imagination, publish volumes of pages of reports about Nigerian girls and women who were forcibly drawn into work at factories in the Republic of Tatarstan.
“For your information: The Special Economic Zone Alabuga was created in 2006. Today, the SEZ is actively developing and is one of the leaders in efficiency among Russian companies.
“In one of the articles, the author directly states that Russia suffers from a shortage of labour, which is why the created teams of Russian recruiters have to work on residents of African and Asian countries on the Internet, luring them to the SEZ, promising decent wages and opportunities for education. According to the authors, terrible things are happening in the Alabuga SEZ: human trafficking is flourishing, foreigners who arrive are enslaved, they are forced to work in dangerous and inhumane conditions, and there is no talk of wages: ‘Women and girls are forced to engage in prostitution.’
“Pro-Western paid authors could not do without the colonial agenda here either.
“Rest assured that Russia, which has fought for independence for centuries, respects and values the right of any people to freedom at any point. We support Africa and other countries in the fight against terrorism and the remnants of colonialism, and we also oppose the domination of some countries over others. As is traditional, we advise authors to check the sources of information and, at least for a minute, think about its veracity.
“The real colonialism of our time, or neocolonialism, is when an African journalist takes money from representatives of former metropolises to place dirty and false information in the media, creating a false picture of the world and misleading millions of fellow citizens.”
News360 Info reports that the publication did not specifically respond to the allegations presented in the AP investigation or by Nigerian journalists, but rather implied that the reports were driven by financial motives and influenced by enduring colonial interests.
While the rhetoric from Russia is broad, it has yet to be substantiated with a comprehensive explanation regarding the status and responsibilities of foreign students, particularly those from Nigeria, at Alabuga Polytechnic College.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has also refuted any claims of involvement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement indicating that it neither facilitated nor supported the recruitment process.
Furthermore, the government highlighted that it had not authorised any agency to send Nigerians abroad under such a program.
In addition to these concerns, Ukraine’s ambassador to Nigeria cautioned that the drone production areas, including the one located in Alabuga, are considered legitimate military targets due to their involvement in the ongoing conflict.
However, previous investigations conducted by People’s Gazette, the Associated Press, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crimes present a starkly contrasting narrative.
These reports claim that numerous Nigerian secondary school graduates, predominantly women aged 18 to 22, were enrolled through a vocational program endorsed by the Federal Government at Alabuga Polytechnic, only to find themselves assembling Iranian-designed attack drones for Russia’s military efforts against Ukraine.
According to the Associated Press, many of these young Africans, including Nigerians, were misled with assurances of hospitality employment or educational opportunities. Instead, they encountered poor working conditions in drone assembly lines, with some reportedly injured during Ukrainian strikes on the facility.
Meanwhile, the international community persists in expressing concerns regarding the employment of non-Russian labour in wartime production and the susceptibility of young recruits from the Global South.
