Rukiga County MP Patrick Katabaazi wants the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate reports that Ugandans lured abroad with promises of lucrative jobs are ending up on the frontline in Ukraine.
Rukiga County MP Patrick Katabaazi has asked the government to investigate reports that Ugandan youths are being recruited through deceptive job offers and deployed to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine.
Katabaazi raised the concern during Wednesday’s parliamentary sitting chaired by Speaker Jacob Marksons Oboth, saying one of his constituents had been misled into leaving Uganda for what was presented as a lucrative employment opportunity, only to end up on the battlefield.
“I have received a report of one of my electorate who was deceived to leave this country with promises of a good job, only to end up at the war front in Ukraine under the Russian army,” Katabaazi told Parliament.
The legislator urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the recruitment networks and explain what measures the government is taking to protect Ugandans seeking employment abroad.
“Government must investigate how Ugandans are being wooed to join the Russian army. Our young people are being trafficked and finding themselves on the war front in Ukraine,” he said.
His concerns come amid growing reports of Ugandans being lured to Russia with promises of well-paying civilian jobs before allegedly being recruited into military service and deployed to the conflict.
In March 2026, Daily Monitor reported that relatives feared at least 79 Ugandans had become trapped in Russia after allegedly being recruited through a fraudulent overseas employment scheme.
Families said some recruits had been promised security jobs before ending up on the frontline.
In June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Vincent Bagiire, reportedly directed Uganda’s embassy in Moscow to investigate allegations that Ugandans had been trafficked to Russia and deployed to fight in the war.
The reports have raised concerns about the vulnerability of jobseekers to recruitment schemes that exploit the demand for overseas employment, particularly where prospective workers are promised attractive salaries without being adequately informed about the nature of the work.
Katabaazi wants the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish how the recruitment is taking place and outline measures to prevent more Ugandans from falling victim to such schemes.
By press time, the ministry had not provided a response to the specific concerns raised by the MP.
The Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has increasingly drawn attention to the recruitment of foreign nationals into Russian military service.
Reports from several African countries have documented cases of citizens allegedly being deceived or exploited through recruitment offers linked to the conflict.