Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi has revealed that the government is struggling to establish the exact number of Kenyans recruited into Russia’s military operations, saying many travelled secretly and without informing either their families or Kenyan authorities.
Appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Labour Migration on Thursday, Recruitment and Worker Protection, Mudavadi said the figures available to the government continue to change as more information emerges from the Russia-Ukraine war zone.
He also disclosed that Kenyan diplomatic missions abroad are facing serious financial difficulties that have weakened their ability to support stranded citizens through evacuations, legal assistance, shelter and repatriation.
“We were talking about the ones we had confirmed, because it’s possible there could be more,” Mudavadi told senators. “These are people who went into this territory without notifying the embassy, without notifying their families. So new information is coming.”
The Foreign Affairs CS said the government had initially confirmed 252 Kenyans linked to recruitment into Russian Special Forces, but the figure later rose to 291 after additional cases were verified. He explained that the increase did not necessarily point to fresh recruitment, but rather to delayed verification of information coming from the conflict area.
“It is not a question of discovery,” he said. “Remember, this is a war zone… these are data that are coming out, which always require clear verification from time to time.”
According to a report submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Senate committee, the government documented “252 reported cases of Kenyans who enlisted in the Russian Special Forces.” The ministry added that 47 people had been repatriated, while families had reported 10 deaths that had not yet been officially confirmed.
Mudavadi said some of those recruited had intentionally concealed their travel arrangements, making it difficult for families and Kenyan officials to track them once they entered the conflict zone.
“Some may have been secretive,” he said.
He defended the government’s response to the matter and said authorities were focused on confirming facts rather than competing with media reports on casualty or recruitment numbers.
“If the media does have something, I think it’s good for us to be able to note what they have brought out and also try and verify the facts,” he told the committee.
The ministry’s report linked the recruitment of Kenyans into the Russian military to a wider network of transnational trafficking and fraudulent overseas job schemes targeting young job seekers. The report noted that former servicemen were among those most targeted for recruitment linked to Russia.
Mudavadi told senators that Kenya had already engaged Russian authorities on the matter and secured assurances that there would be “no more enlisting of Kenyans to the Special Military Forces of the Russian Federation.”
He added that Kenya had also appealed to Russia to include captured Kenyans in prisoner exchange arrangements to allow their return home.
“When we met with the Russian foreign minister, one of our very key issues was that since these Kenyans were caught up on the front line, we also want the Russian Federation to include [them] when there is a prisoner exchange,” Mudavadi said.
The CS further painted a grim picture of the growing migrant worker crisis facing the country, saying Kenyan embassies lack enough resources to respond to emergencies involving citizens stranded abroad.
His remarks came amid increasing concern over the treatment of Kenyan migrant workers in foreign countries, especially in Gulf states, where cases of abuse, detention, trafficking and abandonment have repeatedly been reported.
Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Roseline Njogu also appeared before the committee and warned that many Kenyans were bypassing official labour migration procedures and falling into the hands of traffickers operating through informal recruitment channels.
“There is a requirement for personal responsibility,” Njogu said. “As much as governments can do everything to keep you in line and we have created protective infrastructure… we do see a lot of the things where instead of going directly to your job in Qatar, you will transit through Addis Ababa and go to the Golden Triangle.”
The report presented to senators highlighted what officials described as expanding labour trafficking routes and dangerous migration pathways being used by Kenyans seeking employment opportunities abroad.