The nationals from Bangladesh and 28 other countries were recruited into the Russian armed forces through deception or coercion, according to a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine submitted to the United Nations General Assembly at its 81st session.
The Commission found compelling evidence that Russian authorities, in nexus with agents or agencies operating in different countries or geographic regions, have trafficked persons from 29 countries, using deception or coercion, to recruit them in the Russian armed forces.
The report was shared on Monday night, a week after it had been submitted to the United Nations.
The 29 countries are Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Botswana, Cameroun, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ghana, Honduras, India, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Since 2024, there have been clear patterns of recruitment of foreign nationals from particular countries and geographic regions to serve in the Russian armed forces, says the commission after investigating the recruitment of nationals from a total of 48 countries.
After accepting the job offer, the men were pressured to travel quickly, usually in the space of a few days. The recruiting agents processed visas and plane tickets, booked accommodation, and arranged other logistical details. Travel documentation was organized in various ways depending on the particular countries or regions, as agents adjusted to local requirements.
Some of the recruits had to process business visas, others received short-term tourist visas, while others needed no visa at all, according to the report.
“For instance, the Commission received copies of business visas given to Bangladeshi recruits, with mention that they had been invited by a civilian company in the Russian Federation,” says the report.
Kenyan recruits received tourist visas for durations ranging from two weeks to four months, despite travelling for work. Recruits from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Peru were instructed by the recruiting agency to travel without a visa, with paperwork presenting the trip as a tourist tour in Türkiye or in the Russian Federation, as per the report.
However, after arriving in Russia, many were forced to sign contracts written in Russian with the Russian Ministry of Defence. Their phones and passports were often confiscated, and they discovered that they would be serving in the Russian armed forces rather than undertaking the civilian jobs they had been promised, according to the report.
The recruited men were subsequently deployed on frontlines in Ukraine and assigned dangerous tasks. Many have been killed or have gone missing, it says.
The departure, disappearance, injury, death, or capture of the victims has a long-lasting psychological impact on their families, who have carried out intense search efforts to find their loved ones, says the report.
The report, however, does not specify how many Bangladeshi nationals were recruited, killed, injured or reported missing.
The report also does not establish that every foreign national serving in the Russian armed forces was trafficked.