{"id":23072,"date":"2024-10-02T19:16:03","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T19:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biografrica.com\/?p=23072"},"modified":"2024-11-24T14:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T14:03:43","slug":"russia-exploits-african-youth-for-ukraine-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biografrica.com\/russia-exploits-african-youth-for-ukraine-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Truth: How Russia Lures Africans to Fight in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
In 2019 when a 19-year Lemekani Nyirenda<\/a> left his country, Zambia<\/a>, on scholarship to Moscow, he was full of promises for himself and his family. Lemekani arrived in Russia<\/a> in high spirits completely assured of a fulfilling experience in the country. On his YouTube page and other social media handles, he shared pictures and videos of his new exciting life in Moscow<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately for Lemekani, this excitement of relocating to a new country didn\u2019t last for long. A few months into life as a resident of Moscow, Lemekani ran short of funds and needed a job to make some money. He posted a job-seeking advert online which caught the attention of a drug dealer. The drug dealer called and offered to employ Lemekani as one of his delivery boys. Hesitantly, Lemekani accepted the gig, since he desperately needed money. This was in the year 2020 and within the same year, Lemekani was arrested while trying to deliver drugs and was sentenced to jail for 9 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n While he served his jail term, Russia went to war with Ukraine<\/a>, and as the war intensified, Russia began to browbeat prison inmates into accepting to join her army as a gateway to their freedom. To purchase his freedom, Lemekani Nyirenda joined the Russian Wagner fighters and was immediately deployed to the frontline of the war in Ukraine. He never made it back alive as he was killed in September, 2022 while fighting in Ukraine for Russia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lemekani\u2019s story was documented by Giulia, Filipp and Felix in a report entitled \u201cAfrican Fighting on Russia\u2019s Front Line in Ukraine\u201d which was published by Reuters on the 22nd day of June 2023. The report covered the stories of other African inmates like a Tanzanian<\/a> student by the name of Tarimo who was similarly moved from a Russian prison to the frontline of the war in Ukraine and who like Lemekani, died while fighting in a war he knew nothing about. But the story of Russia\u2019s exploitative use of African immigrants<\/a> in the ongoing war didn\u2019t stop with the heartbreaking stories of these inmates-turned-soldiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, a Ghanaian Television Station, TV3GH published a disturbing story of fourteen young Ghanaians who were lured into leaving their country to Russia only to be drafted into the Russian army and sent to Ukraine to fight the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n