Russia to Stop Recruitment from Cameroon, But Grim Figures Remain

By Hans Ngala

Russia has called on its recruiters to stop the recruitment of fighters from “friendly” nations, CNA has learned. The revelation was made by Impact Stories, an independent Russian news organization on February 23. Russia has increasingly turned to Asia and especially Africa to fill gaps as its military incurs heavy losses in its war with Ukraine.

The news comes after the publication of a 72-page report released February 11 by Franco-Swiss investigative group, INPACT under its All Eyes on Wagner Project which revealed grim figures behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Africans are paying the highest price, with Cameroon being the most affected. Some 94 Cameroonians are documented in the report as having died on the frontlines and the number jumps to 95 if we add a Nkami Watat Serge Christian who is listed under Algeria and is described as “probably Cameroonian”.

However, some observers are skeptical about Moscow’s decision to stop recruiting from friendly nations like Cameroon, believing it may just be a veneer meant to placate Russia’s African allies while maintaining covert recruitment operations.  Professor Victor Julius Ngoh, a leading Cameroonian historian and political commentor is one such skeptic. Ngoh says, “It is important to understand that these mercenaries are not officially sent or approved by the African country or countries concerned.”

He adds that “Russians will cry out loud if the death toll of their sons and daughters rises but will not care if the death toll of Africans fighting on their behalf rises. Putin’s outing is merely PR.”

Cameroonian officials have remained mute on the matter altogether.

The INPACT report referenced earlier is titled “The Business of Despair” and contains the names of 1,417 African recruits allegedly enlisted to fight for Russia since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Through open-source verification, investigators say they corroborated the authenticity of the dataset and confirmed that at least 316 of those recruits have already been killed in action.

For Cameroon, the figures are particularly stark. According to the database, 335 individuals were recruited from the country — the second highest number after Egypt’s 361. Cameroon also records the highest confirmed death toll of any African nation listed in the data. Of the 316 Africans reportedly killed, 94 are Cameroonian, a figure which rises to 95 if Nkami Watat Serge Christian’s name which is listed under Algeria, is added to the Cameroonian list since Nkami is believed to have held dual nationality with Algeria and Cameroon.

Investigators believe the true number of deaths in Ukraine could be significantly higher. In the course of their research, they identified African fighters posting images and messages from the frontlines whose names did not appear in the database. This suggests that the 1,417 figure may represent only a portion of the total African presence in Russian ranks, with Cameroonians making a significantly high number of recruits and deaths.

A Growing Recruitment Trend

The report traces a steady rise in African recruitment over the past three years. It documents 177 recruits in 2023, 592 in 2024 — a number reportedly acknowledged by Russian authorities at the time, and 647 in 2025.

The average age of recruits is 31. The youngest identified was an 18-year-old Ghanaian, while the oldest was a 57-year-old Egyptian. The data also paints a grim picture of survival rates. The average duration of service among those killed was just six months. Fifty-one recruits reportedly died after serving only one month. The longest recorded period of service among the deceased was 19 months. These facts about survivability seem to add up with our own independent findings here at CNA. We have identified five Cameroonians who died in Russia and spoke directly with two of the families.

The 7th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian 3rd Army accounts for the highest number of African fatalities, with 49 killed in action.

Russo-Cameroonian Relations

In order to better understand Cameroon’s ties to Russia from a diplomatic perspective, it’s important to note that both countries signed a military cooperation deal in April 2022, just a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine. These close ties explain why authorities in Cameroon are reluctant to call out Russia for its recruitment of Cameroonians who have died the most in its war with Ukraine.

On Policy magazine, writing on the cooperation, states that: “Between 2017 and 2021, Moscow signed military cooperation agreements with all the G5 Sahel countries. The signing of the agreement between Cameroon and Russia has been the subject of many debates about the timing. The most recent agreement with Cameroon has raised concern in many Western countries and France in particular. What could be the consequences of the signing of this agreement on relations and military cooperation between Cameroon and its Western partners?”

Important Stories, a Russian newsroom specialized in investigative reporting, published a report on February 23 revealing that Russian authorities had restricted the recruitment of foreign mercenaries from “friendly countries”.

“Russian recruiters recruiting foreigners to fight against Ukraine have been given a blacklist of countries from which they are now prohibited from importing mercenaries, Important Stories has discovered,” the report states. It adds that the list includes more than 40 countries which had been asked in January to stop recruiting from places such as Nepal and Sri Lanka.

“In February, several more countries, in addition to the previously named 36, could have been added to the blacklist. An expanded list was published by Iraqi blogger Mustafa al-Yasari, who exposes Russian recruitment networks in the country. According to him, the blacklist includes Argentina, Iraq, Yemen, Cameroon, Colombia, Libya, and Somalia. The information was allegedly passed on to the blogger by “a Russian officer”.

Important Stories writes that: “It is unknown who exactly made the decision to narrow the list of countries for recruitment and at what level. It is likely that the list was the result of diplomatic contacts”.

The investigative report further clarifies that “…in 2025, the Russian army most actively recruited citizens of Ghana, Cameroon, and Kenya—at least 100 people from each country”.

The War’s Human Cost

The findings come amid continuing international scrutiny of Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine. While Moscow has acknowledged recruiting foreign nationals, the scale and organization of African enlistment detailed in the report add new dimensions to the conflict’s global footprint.

A recently released report by the African Digital Democracy Observatory (ADDO) also accuses Ukraine of recruiting foreign mercenaries to fight on its behalf – a previously underreported aspect of the war.

While the recent findings published by INPACT have helped expose the gravity of the war on Cameroonian lives, media coverage has only begun picking up now. CNA and our sister newsroom MMI News as well as influencer, Clement Toh, have been some of the leading voices in the media, raising awareness on the impact of the war on Cameroonians lives and this reporting needs to be continuous so as to help save Cameroonian lives.

However, reporting alone is not going to be enough because as our previous reporting indicates, economic factors play the most significant role in Cameroonians’ decision to join the Russian army. Cameroonian authorities need to address the bleak economic prospects back home. With youth who are employed, there is less likelihood that they can be lured by better pay offered by Russia.

CNA reached out to the Russian embassy in Yaounde via email and by phone to get comment on the increasing number of Cameroonians dying while fighting on its behalf against Ukraine. The embassy is yet to give a response.