South Africa Launches Investigation into Russian Recruitment of Young Women for Drone Production

South Africa has initiated an investigation into the expanding recruitment efforts by Russian companies targeting young women from various African nations for drone manufacturing, as reported by Bloomberg, citing an unnamed insider.

The Alabuga factory located in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, serves as a primary provider of drones for the Russian military, producing up to 200 Iranian-style Shahed drones each month for use in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

This facility has been luring young women from numerous economically disadvantaged countries with promises of high wages, educational opportunities, and career advancement.

However, many of the women who arrive end up assembling drones that are later deployed in attacks on Ukraine, according to local news and Western research findings.

The South African government is currently probing the activities of Russian firms and their underlying motives, according to Bloomberg’s source.

Officials in Pretoria may wish to summon Russian diplomats for clarification, the source indicated.

“The South African government is actively looking into reports regarding foreign initiatives recruiting South Africans under misleading pretenses,” remarked the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in a statement to Bloomberg. “So far, the government has not found credible evidence suggesting that job offers in Russia deviate from their stated objectives. Nonetheless, the government is aware of reports concerning the recruitment of youth by the Alabuga firm.”

In May, the local BRICS Women’s Business Alliance signed an agreement to supply 5,600 workers over the next year to Alabuga and a Russian construction company.

Earlier in January, the BRICS Student Commission in South Africa promoted job opportunities in construction and hospitality at Alabuga for women aged 18 to 22, with the support of South African influencers on Instagram and TikTok.

Russia is currently grappling with a significant labor shortage, worsened by a declining demographic, the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of men for the Ukraine conflict, limitations on Central Asian migrant workers, and a mass departure of dissenters.

In contrast, approximately one-third of South Africa’s workforce is unemployed.

Alabuga Start markets itself as a program aimed at “young and talented individuals from all around the globe to create a career and improve their lives.”

However, a report from the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington states that over 90% of participants are redirected to drone assembly roles.

“They are constructing weaponry and find themselves exposed to combat situations, as they are now part of a war,” commented Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow at the institute, to Bloomberg.

The institute noted that Alabuga is in the process of constructing housing for about 41,000 individuals, suggesting plans for an expansion in drone production. The facility has already produced six versions of the Shahed drone, initially sourced from Iran.

In 2024, the Associated Press spoke to six young African women who claimed they were misled into working on drone assembly at Alabuga.

After being promised airfare, training, and jobs in hospitality or catering, they ended up working with hazardous materials in harsh conditions, receiving low pay and lacking protective gear.

Similar reports were later highlighted by The Wall Street Journal.

This year, Interpol launched an investigation in Botswana to determine if Alabuga Start is connected to human trafficking, while in Argentina, a lawsuit was filed alleging that two former reality television participants were involved in recruitment for the initiative.