Russia wants to increase the number of the «African Corps» by 12,000 people by the end of 2026. At the same time, it is recruiting citizens from 36 African states to fight in Ukraine. These two tasks compete with each other — and both are losing to one reality: there are not enough people.
What Moscow is building in Africa — and why
According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Kremlin views Africa not as a secondary theater, but as a new security services market: training local armies, supplying weapons, promoting drones and electronic warfare systems. The main countries of presence are Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Libya and the CAR.
The «African Corps» is a structure of the Russian Ministry of Defense, created in late 2023 as an institutional replacement for the Wagner PMC. The task is not only to provide military support to loyal regimes, but also to demonstrate samples of weapons in field conditions, that is, a living advertisement stand for Russian military-industrial complex.
«By the end of 2026, the Kremlin plans to increase the personnel of the African Corps by 12,000 people alone».
Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service
Zelensky confirmed in April 2026: Russia is already increasing its contingents — plus 8,000 people. But the FIS immediately noted a contradiction: current recruitment rates in the army only allow to cover losses on the front in Ukraine, leaving no reserves for the African direction.
Who is being recruited — and how
As of the end of 2025, more than 1,400 citizens from 36 African states were fighting on Moscow's side in Ukraine. These are not volunteers driven by ideological beliefs — the FIS describes systematic recruitment of socially vulnerable groups: unemployed youth without education, women with low incomes, people with military experience.
The scheme is standard: a vacancy for a security guard or driver, signing a contract, deployment — but not to Africa, but to Donetsk or Kharkiv region. According to The New York Times, recruiters are straightforward: if an order comes from above, the «African Corps» becomes a reserve for the Ukrainian front.
- Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Botswana and Lesotho officially accused Moscow of mass recruitment of their citizens.
- A number of these countries are preparing to strengthen control over employment agencies and limit cooperation with Russian cultural institutions.
- In South Africa, Russian military recruits youth through the gaming platform Discord.
Soft power as recruitment infrastructure
In parallel, Moscow is building long-term presence through the Russian Orthodox Church: from 2022 to 2026, its network in Africa expanded from 4 to over 30 countries. Scholarships, language courses, new churches — all of this forms a pool of loyal people, and it is easier to recruit from the loyal ones.
The problem is that economic exhaustion from war undermines this very model. Money that was supposed to go to African expansion is consumed by the front. People who were supposed to replenish the «African Corps» are going to fill the gaps near Pokrovsk.
If Ukraine maintains pressure on the front and forces Russia to maintain a pace of 30,000 recruits per month solely to cover losses — will Moscow have enough resources to simultaneously maintain African positions, or will it have to choose between the front and the continent?
