Russia accused of human trafficking and transnational repression

Amnesty International has characterized Russia’s recruitment of foreign nationals to fight in Ukraine as a form of “human trafficking.” The human rights organization reports that Moscow employs deceptive, coercive, and exploitative practices to enlist economically vulnerable individuals, primarily from low-income countries in the Global South.

Recruiters reportedly target migrants and refugees within Russia by exploiting their precarious legal statuses. Methods include offering military service as an alternative to detention or deportation for those with expired visas or criminal charges. Amnesty’s findings are based on interviews conducted between 2024 and 2026 with former prisoners of war, current Russian service members, and their families.

Separately, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, described a “structural and state-supported” system of transnational repression. She noted that Moscow’s crackdown extends to civil society members in exile through direct violence, death threats, and the use of digital tools, financial pressure, and extradition requests to target dissidents abroad.