Russia is illegally recruiting foreign nationals into its military by using deception, blackmail, document confiscation and the threat of deportation to coerce migrants into fighting in Ukraine — a practice that amounts to human trafficking under international law, Amnesty International said in a report Thursday. The finding follows interviews with prisoners of war from more than a dozen countries held in Ukrainian captivity, almost all of whom described abuses during recruitment that brought them into Russia's armed forces. Practices documented by Amnesty International — including contracts signed without informed consent, confiscated passports, restricted freedom of movement, inadequate training and threats against those who tried to leave — meet the threshold for human trafficking under the UN Palermo Protocol, the organisation said.
The Palermo Protocol, or UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transport or receipt of people through force, deception or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. It is the primary international legal instrument on trafficking and has been ratified by 178 states, including Russia. By April, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War had identified 28,391 foreign nationals from 136 countries as having fought in Russia's armed forces.
The figure excludes North Korean troops, who joined Russian forces at the front at the end of 2024. Pyongyang deployed an estimated 10,000 troops to support Russian forces in late 2024, according to South Korean and US intelligence assessments, the first confirmed deployment of a third country's conventional military forces to the war. Amnesty International sent a request for comment to Russian authorities and received no reply.
In May 2025, Russia designated it an "undesirable organisation," a legal classification that bans its presence in Russia, criminalises its activities in the country and prevents it from openly collecting information there. Outside Russia, recruitment is built on deception. The most common scheme involves fake civilian job offers — in logistics, warehouses or construction — at salaries of around $2,000 a month.
Others promise help obtaining legal passage to the EU, presenting Russia as a transit country. Once people arrive, their documents are taken. A third method exploits language barriers: foreign nationals sign what they believe is a civilian employment contract but find they have signed a contract with Russia's Defence Ministry.
Inside Russia, the methods shift to coercion. Labour migrants with irregular registration status and refugees are targeted specifically. People detained for immigration violations are offered a choice between immediate deportation — which for many means poverty, persecution or danger at home — and signing a military contract.
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