Military — 2026-10-29

Russia Expands War Recruitment in Africa With Burundi Enlistment Up 23-Fold

BLUFRussia is backfilling recruitment losses by shifting to weakly governed African states, sustaining foreign manpower flows rather than shrinking them despite individual country crackdowns.

Bloomberg, citing a Ukrainian intelligence presentation obtained from people familiar with it, reported that 699 Burundians signed Russian military contracts from January 1 to September 30, against 30 in all of 2025, and 530 Zimbabweans, up from 65 12. The presentation says recruitment rose after Kenya and South Africa moved to stop departures, with increases also in Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo 13. It also says Russia began recruiting in Madagascar for the first time since the war began and virtually halted recruitment in at least nine African countries, offering defense-industry jobs instead 12. Ukraine has identified 5,451 Africans among 45,959 foreign contract soldiers, Bloomberg reported 1. A UN commission report released Monday said Russian authorities trafficked people from 29 countries into the army 14. Russia has never publicly acknowledged recruiting foreigners to fight, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment 13.

Analysis
Russia is shifting recruitment toward weakly governed states that have not yet restricted departures while closing off markets that resisted, so Moscow is displacing recruits rather than losing them. Burundi and Zimbabwe now drive growth, Madagascar's military-led government is a new source, and defense-industry job offers have replaced army contracts in at least nine countries. Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Ghana have each acted, and this week's Russia-Africa summit in Moscow gives African governments an opening to press for limits. Confidence is low: everything rests on one Ukrainian intelligence presentation seen only by Bloomberg, the outlets repeating it add no verification, and the contract counts are unchecked. Kyiv also has reason to stress Russian manpower shortfalls, so the figures may overstate Moscow's dependence on foreign recruits.

4 sources

Russia is said to widen military recruitment drive in Africa - Moneyweb (Bloomberg)
Russia expands war recruitment in Africa, with enlistment in Burundi up 23-fold - The Insider
Russia expanding recruitment of African mercenaries amid heavy losses in Ukraine war - Ukrinform
Russia shifts its war recruitment focus to people from countries including Burundi and Zimbabwe - Semafor