How Russia Dupes Kenyans into Fighting in Ukraine

One thought he was getting a job driving a truck in Russia. Another says he was invited to run in a race. Both ended up being forced to fight Putin's war.

Dancan Chege back home in Kimende, Kenya: “When you get there, you’ll see.” (Photo: Brian Otieno / DER SPIEGEL)

By Dialika Neufeld and Jonathan Stock in Kenya and Ukraine

Dancan Chege is a polite, God-fearing young man, but he can no longer call her anything but “this fucking agent” – the woman, this Virginia, who, as he says, lured him to Russia. He is unable to call her and demand answers, he says, because she has blocked his number. Nor can he go to her office in Nairobi, he says, because he is afraid he might end up killing her. That’s how angry he is.