“I like Russia, its language and culture,” said DW 20-year-old Aminata. In a fewer weeks, he intends to leave his homeland, Sierra Leone, to start studying in distant Russia. Travel expenses are covered by the program "Alabuga Start", named after the name of the industrial area in southwestern Russia, where even dormitories for its participants are located.
Aminata is not an isolated case: this program offers candidates from poorer countries the possible of a well-paid career. Photos of smiling and happy young Africans are constantly appearing on the Telegram channel, which besides includes a program of work and studies.
Dreams like a soap bubble
For most, the dream is like a bubble of soap shortly after arriving in the peculiar economical region of Alabuga, a large industrial area in the south-western region of Russia, Tatarstan: alternatively of professional training in production facilities, many of them must work in bad conditions, keeping the Russian war economy moving and installing inexpensive drones. This was besides the conclusion of the study published in May by the Global Initiative against global Organized Crime. Aminata of Sierra Leone says she hasn't heard anything about it so far.
The DW contacted many of the programme's participants; most of them do not want to talk about it for fear of repression. Chinara, a young Nigerian woman, agreed to an interview via an net communicator. "They made us hard-working workers for low wages," writes a young female in a chat area with DW. It belongs to those participants of the program "Alabuga Start" who disappointed left Russia.
"At first, we felt good due to the fact that erstwhile we applied, we were offered work in areas specified as logistics, service and catering, as well as as as crane operators," writes Chinara, whose name was changed by the editor to defend her identity.
He adds that for African girls it was a uncommon chance to gain experience in these competitions. "But erstwhile we got here, they changed everything and gave excuses," he adds. any of them were directed to a mill where drones were installed, others supervised their production, others worked as cleaners.
Young women were exposed to "highly dangerous and life-threatening chemicals", as Chinara writes. Nevertheless, the management of the program did not want to take work for the deteriorating wellness of its participants: "Even the Russians themselves do not work there long due to the fact that it is simply a very dangerous place".
Center for War Economy
Alabuga is considered to be the center of president Vladimir Putin's war economy. It produces Geran-2-type drones based on the Iranian model Shahed-136, which are utilized in a large number and play a key function in attacks on Ukraine. Since the beginning of May Russia has intensified drone attacks again, and almost all night it directs hundreds of inexpensive kamikaze machines towards Ukrainian cities.
Alabug's peculiar economical region was created in 2006 to attract businesses and investments to Tatarstan. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it grew rapidly, and part of its surface area was intended for military production by adding fresh buildings or renovating existing ones, as shown by satellite images.
Reports of deficiency of labour are constantly coming from Russia's wartime war. It seems that recruiters are increasingly focusing on global confederate economical migrants. In 2024 more than 111,000 African workers arrived in Russia, 50 percent more than in the first year of the war. The largest increase was recorded among Cameroonians, many others came from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Central African Republic and Gambia.
Use in Alabusa
Almost all of these countries besides appear in the survey of the Global Initiative against global Organized Crime under the "Alabuga Start" programme. It is believed to aid fill human resources gaps in the arms industry: initially, it mainly recruited young women aged 18 to 22 from African countries. Currently, the programme has been extended to another developing countries in Asia and Latin America, as well as to respective erstwhile russian republics.
The investigation authors analysed data and chat rooms and conducted about 60 interviews between December 2024 and March 2025. His co-author Julia Stanyard emphasizes in a conversation with DW that underage girls from the Alabuga Polytech training centre were besides employed to produce drones. According to Julia Stansard, any are only 16 years old.
– Their working conditions bordering exploitation, young women talked about long working hours and constant control from the management of Alabuga. They work with chemicals that pose a threat to their health," says the U.S.ard, confirming the statements of young Nigerian Chinara. There were besides frequent allegations of harassment and racism.
There is besides a life-threatening situation on the ground, as the Ukrainian military attacks production facilities, as Julia Stanyard says. The Global Initiative study quotes Russian media, according to which in April 2024 workers were injured and in December 2024 the full mill had to be evacuated. Ukraine then informed about the burning of the warehouse; besides in April 2025, this industrial area was again attacked, located about a 1000 kilometres in Russia.
"Daughter talks about forced labour"
– The program seems to match a form of fraudulent exploitation," says the investigator in a conversation with DW. During recruitment, its participants are not informed of what they will produce. Many young girls in Alabad are trapped, and it seems impossible to leave. In Zimbabwe, parents worry about their children who have volunteered online and have left for Russia with an air ticket paid for by the "AlabugStart" program.
A girl’s parent in a agrarian area in the north of Zimbabwe complains about her daughter’s suffering. She wanted to proceed her method training. Now she's told us about her forced work, she can't almost usage the phone, and she's constantly being watched. She besides did not receive $1,500 promised," DW said. "Now I can't even bring her back." The people on the Alabuga Start show she trusted are silent.
The father of another girl who left Zimbabwe for the Alabug region told the DW that it was a real nightmare and that this supposedly credible training program turned into a "death trap". 1 parent from Zimbabwe's capital Harare told DW about her 20-year-old daughter in the Alabuga zone. She was besides to undergo method training. But he does something completely different. We can't almost talk to her, her passport has been kept, so she can't get distant with it," she says.
Interpol: an investigation in Botswana
In neighboring Botswana, the program "Alabuga Start" attracted interest from investigators: Interpol has launched an investigation and is checking that the recruitment action carried out within it is linked to human trafficking.
– A false facade of Alabuga begins to crumble a bit," says Julia Stanyard. any countries, specified as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, have become more delicate to the risks associated with this programme and have launched investigations. The researcher, however, states: "Many of these governments focus on training workers abroad and consider it a good thing." Representatives of the "Alabuga Start" program proceed to meet African diplomats to actively advance it.
The program "Alabuga Start" did not respond to the DW's request for working conditions.
