The Russian government has dismissed reports alleging that young Nigerian women are being recruited into suicide drone factories under the guise of a scholarship scheme, describing the claims as false, colonial in tone, and part of a Western-sponsored smear campaign.
This rebuttal came through a statement published on May 13 by the Russian embassy on Facebook. The statement reacts to increasing media attention, particularly from Nigerian outlets, on the activities at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Alabuga, Tatarstan.
The Facebook post described recent news reports, which detailed how Nigerian women were allegedly lured into military drone production work in Russia, as “volumes of fiction.”
It accused “pro-Western paid authors” of inventing stories about human trafficking, forced labour, and prostitution in the Alabuga zone.
Responding to specific allegations that Russian recruiters targeted African and Asian youths on social media with false promises of education and high wages, the Russian statement denied that any form of exploitation occurred.
The post reads, “The Nigerian press has drawn attention to the interest in the topic of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Alabuga. Some local publications, particularly sophisticated in their imagination, publish volumes of pages of reports about Nigerian girls and women who were forcibly drawn into work at factories in the Republic of Tatarstan.
“For your information: The Special Economic Zone Alabuga was created in 2006. Today, the SEZ is actively developing and is one of the leaders in efficiency among Russian companies.
“In one of the articles, the author directly states that Russia suffers from a shortage of labour, which is why the created teams of Russian recruiters have to work on residents of African and Asian countries on the Internet, luring them to the SEZ, promising decent wages and opportunities for education. According to the authors, terrible things are happening in the Alabuga SEZ: human trafficking is flourishing, foreigners who arrive are enslaved, they are forced to work in dangerous and inhumane conditions, and there is no talk of wages: ‘Women and girls are forced to engage in prostitution.’
“Pro-Western paid authors could not do without the colonial agenda here either.
“Rest assured that Russia, which has fought for independence for centuries, respects and values the right of any people to freedom at any point. We support Africa and other countries in the fight against terrorism and the remnants of colonialism, and we also oppose the domination of some countries over others. As is traditional, we advise authors to check the sources of information and, at least for a minute, think about its veracity.
“The real colonialism of our time, or neocolonialism, is when an African journalist takes money from representatives of former metropolises to place dirty and false information in the media, creating a false picture of the world and misleading millions of fellow citizens,” it reads.
The Facebook post did not directly address the accusations made in the AP investigation or by Nigerian journalists, instead suggesting that the reports were financially motivated and influenced by lingering colonial interests.
While sweeping in rhetoric, the Russian denial has yet to be backed by detailed clarification on the status and duties of foreign students, particularly Nigerians, at Alabuga Polytechnic College.
The Federal Government of Nigeria also denied any involvement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement stating that it neither facilitated nor endorsed the recruitment.
The government also emphasized that it had not approved any agency to send Nigerians abroad under such a scheme.
Adding to the concern, Ukraine’s ambassador to Nigeria warned that the drone production zones, such as the one in Alabuga, are legitimate military targets due to their role in the ongoing war.
However, earlier investigations by People’s Gazette, the Associated Press, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crimes tell a sharply different story.
Those reports allege that dozens of Nigerian secondary school leavers, mostly women aged between 18 and 22, were enrolled through a Federal Government-endorsed vocational programme at Alabuga Polytechnic, only to end up assembling Iranian-designed attack drones for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
According to the Associated Press, many of these young Africans, including Nigerians, were deceived with promises of hospitality jobs or study opportunities. Instead, they found themselves working under poor conditions in drone assembly lines. Some were reported injured in Ukrainian strikes on the facility.
Meanwhile, the international community continues to raise concerns about the use of non-Russian labour in wartime production and the vulnerability of young recruits drawn from the Global South.
Vanguard News
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