Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei/HANDOUTThe government has confirmed that it is investigating
reports that several Kenyans may have been trafficked to Russia and are
currently being held as prisoners of war by Ukraine.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei said
authorities are keenly into at least four such cases of Kenyans allegedly
caught up in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
He also assured families of those involved that the
government of Kenya is working with its mission in Russia and Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to address the cases.
“We are keenly following information on three or four
Kenyans allegedly trafficked to Russia and currently held as POWs by Ukraine.
We shall provide additional information. In the meantime, we assure the
families that our Mission in Moscow and our teams at HQ are pursuing the matter
with all diligence,” Sing’Oei stated.
Kenyan authorities have not yet provided details on the
identities of the individuals or how they ended up in the conflict zone.
The Principal Secretary’s statement comes amid growing
concerns over the plight of foreign nationals caught in the ongoing
Russia-Ukraine war.
Last week, a Kenyan athlete, Evans Kibet was captured
fighting for Russia by Ukraine’s 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade in the Kharkiv
Oblast, near the town of Vovchansk, after surrendering.
In a video interview after his capture, Evans narrated that
he had gone to Russia as a tourist before he was tricked by his contact person
into joining the Russian army. He had been in the country for two weeks as a
tourist.
“I joined the Russian military not knowing I was being
recruited. I have never been in military and I have never wanted the military
job.
“I went there as a tourist and spent two weeks, but after I
had one day left before I returned, the man who received me ask what I thought
of Russia and I said it was good. He asked if I would like to stay, I said yes
but my visa is expired,” Evans said.
He stated that the contact person offered to help with his
visa situation and that he had a job ready for him.
“He came in the evening with documents written in Russian, I
didn’t know it was a military job. He told me to sign and took my passport and
phone and that is how everything went wrong.”
According to Evans, the people who came for him after
signing the documents were different and they drove about seven hours away
finding himself in a military camp.
His efforts to resist were met with the words “You already
signed the documents; you cannot go back. You either serve or get killed”.
He received training for just one week before he was
released to the frontline where he met others like him from other countries.
“I’m not the enemy of Ukraine. I found myself in situation I
could not get out of and I was fixed because I didn’t know what I was signing.
It messed my life,” Evans said.
Evans said was then dropped in the forest and that is when
he decided to look for the Ukrainian army personnel.
He explained that he took off the Russian military uniform
and spent two days in the forest looking for the Ukrainian defenders.
