Moscow Labels African Recruitment Warnings in Ghana as Kyiv's Propaganda

The Russian Embassy in Ghana has strongly denied allegations suggesting that African citizens, including Ghanaians, are being lured into its military through deceptive methods. The embassy dismissed a billboard campaign in Accra, which cautioned against such recruitment, as a product of Ukrainian state propaganda.

According to a statement released by the embassy on Thursday, the campaign, featuring slogans like “I Want to Live” and “I Want to Find,” was orchestrated by StopRussianRecruiters.org. The embassy claimed this website was established and managed by Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The billboards, which first appeared on Accra streets in late October, were designed to tarnish Russia’s image and damage its relationship with Ghana, the embassy stated. “Despite presenting itself as a human rights initiative, this website was created and is managed by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine,” the statement read. It further elaborated, “This is not a humanitarian project, but a direct instrument of Ukrainian state propaganda, deliberately used to discredit Russia on the African continent.”

The embassy vehemently rejected claims that Russia was fraudulently enticing Africans into military service, asserting that it has never engaged in deceptive recruitment practices. “The allegations disseminated by this organization, claiming Russia is supposedly luring Africans, including Ghanaian citizens, into contract service by deceptive means, are blatant lies,” the statement affirmed. It added that no credible and verifiable evidence to support these claims had been presented by any authoritative international body.

Furthermore, the embassy argued that the billboard campaign had become irrelevant following Ghanaian President John Mahama’s recent visit to Russia and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. During this high-level meeting, Russia reportedly provided assurances that Ghanaian citizens would not be employed in its military on a contractual basis. “At the meeting in Moscow, the Russian side unequivocally confirmed at the highest level that Ghanaian citizens would not serve in Russia on a contractual basis,” the embassy noted, describing the continued display of the billboards as a “belated and malicious provocation aimed at undermining the friendly relations between Russia and Ghana.”

In a counter-accusation, the Russian Embassy also pointed fingers at Ukraine, alleging hypocrisy by citing advertisements in Ghanaian media that sought foreign nationals for military roles within the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The embassy specifically referenced an October 8 report by the Ghanaian news website YEN.com.gh, which detailed nine military vacancies in Ukraine open to foreigners, including platoon commanders and FPV drone operators. Similar recruitment advertisements, it claimed, were also circulating through other channels, including official Ukrainian Ministry of Defence resources.

This practice, the embassy contended, exposed the “blatant hypocrisy of the Kiev regime,” stating that “whilst accusing Russia of non-existent ‘fraudulent schemes,’ Ukraine itself is openly and cynically recruiting foreigners, including people from Africa, to take part in combat operations.” The embassy further alleged that over 20,000 foreign mercenaries were fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, a figure attributed to Russian security agencies. It accused Ukrainian authorities of treating foreign recruits as “cannon fodder,” exposing them to combat deaths to serve the interests of Ukraine’s Western allies. The embassy urged Ghanaians to critically assess information from organizations it described as linked to Ukrainian state institutions, reiterating Russia’s commitment to stable bilateral relations with Ghana based on mutual respect.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on November 2 that President Mahama had indeed secured a commitment from President Putin during the Russia-Africa Summit. This commitment ensures that Ghanaians will no longer be permitted to participate in the Ukraine war, whether through irregular recruitment or voluntary enlistment. A circular sighted by a correspondent listed this as item number five among six concrete agreements reached during Mahama’s direct talks with Putin.