Amnesty International has accused Russia of recruiting foreign nationals to fight in the war in Ukraine through coercion, fraud and deception, saying the practice amounts to human trafficking.

The human rights organisation made the allegation on Thursday, saying many recruits were lured by promises of lucrative salaries, enlistment bonuses and Russian citizenship.

“Many recruits were promised lucrative salaries and sign-up bonuses that were not fulfilled. While some received partial payments before being captured, many reported receiving nothing at all,” Amnesty International said.

Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said the exploitation and coercion involved in the recruitment led the organisation to conclude that, in many cases, the practice amounted to human trafficking under the UN’s Palermo Protocol.

Amnesty said it interviewed more than a dozen foreign nationals, including citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Somalia and South Africa, during six visits to two Ukrainian prisoner of war camps between 2024 and 2026.

It said only three of those interviewed had knowingly signed contracts to fight in Ukraine.

According to Amnesty, prisoners of war from Brazil and Sri Lanka said their passports and mobile phones were confiscated after they signed the contracts.

The recruits also said the contracts were written only in Russian, with no English-speaking individuals available to explain their contents.

They reportedly received only about two weeks of basic military training, which Amnesty described as inadequate.

The organisation said it could not investigate the recruitment practices inside Russia because it was banned in the country since May 2025.

(dpa/NAN)