The Kenyan government, on Monday, said the country reached an agreement with Russia to exclude Kenyans from further recruitment by Moscow to fight in the war in Ukraine amid concerns over the scale of Russian enlistment in some African countries.
Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s foreign minister, disclosed this at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Monday following a bilateral meeting between the two countries.
During the press conference, Mr Mudavadi praised the relationship between Kenya and Russia dating back to the Soviet era, adding that the Russian defence ministry decided to stop further enlistment of Kenyans to fight in the war.
“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,” Mr Mudavadi said.
“And I want to make it clear that we have now agreed that Kenyans shall not be enlisted through the (Russian) Ministry of Defence—they will no longer be eligible to be enlisted,” he said. “There will be no further enlisting.”
The agreement signalled Kenya’s protectiveness to end the use of its citizens as fighters in the war between Russia and Ukraine as President Bola Tinubu’s administration continues to ignore demands from Nigerians to implement similar measures.
Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon and Egypt are some of the countries where citizens have also expressed displeasure with the number of individuals actively being recruited, mostly through proxy agents, to fight in the war.
The Kenyan government said at least 1,000 Kenyans have been previously recruited to fight in the war, a number far higher than earlier estimated, with many of them attracted by monthly salaries of several thousand dollars and bonuses of more than $6,000 for contract soldiers.
