play Live Sign upShow navigation menu.css-15ru6p1{font-size:inherit;font-weight:normal;}Navigation menuNewsShow more news sectionsAfricaAsiaUS & CanadaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle EastExplainedOpinionSportVideoMoreShow more sectionsFeaturesEconomyHuman RightsClimate CrisisInvestigationsInteractivesIn PicturesScience & TechnologyPodcastsTravelplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNavigation menucaret-leftRussia-Ukraine warHow the US left Ukraine exposed to Russia’s winter warWill Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war?How can Ukraine rebuild China ties?How drone warfare has changed in Ukrainecaret-rightNews|Russia-Ukraine warKenya and Russia agree no Kenyans will be recruited for Ukraine warKenyan foreign minister meets Russian counterpart amid reports that hundreds of Kenyans were recruited to fight in Russia and Ukraine. Listen to this article | 2 minsinfoKenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi, left, shakes hands with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a joint press conference following their talks in Moscow on March 16, 2026 [Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool/AFP]By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and ReutersPublished On 16 Mar 202616 Mar 2026Click here to share on social mediashare2Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoRussia has agreed to stop recruiting Kenyan citizens to fight with its army in Ukraine, Kenya’s foreign minister has said. More than 1,780 citizens from 36 African countries are believed to be fighting alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s estimates in February.
“We have now agreed that Kenyans shall not be enlisted through the [Russian] Ministry of Defence,” Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi told reporters on Monday. He made the statement sitting beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the two held talks in Moscow, Russia. “His excellency has conversed with us on the issue of the welfare of Kenyans who are in Russia and more specifically those who are involved in the special operation,” Mudavadi said.
Mudavadi added that consular services would be organised for those Kenyans requiring assistance through proper diplomatic channels. “We do not want for any reason our partnership with Russia to be defined from the lens of the special operation [in Ukraine] agenda only,” he said. “The relationship between Kenya and Russia is much more broader than that.” Lavrov did not mention the agreement in his remarks to the media, but said the Russian Defence Ministry was looking into cases that had caused “concern among our Kenyan friends”.
He said that Kenyan citizens had voluntarily signed contracts to fight alongside the Russian army. A Kenyan intelligence report presented to lawmakers in February said that more than 1,000 Kenyans had been recruited to fight on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, five times more than authorities had previously estimated.
