NAIROBI, Kenya- President William Ruto has appointed a Defence Attaché to Kenya’s embassy in Moscow to coordinate the return of Kenyans who travelled to Russia for military purposes and assist with compensation, he says.
The officer will liaise with Russia’s Ministry of Defence to process the Kenyans’ safe return and compensation.
Ruto announced the appointment after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday, following the Russia-Africa Summit.
Ruto said Putin had confirmed that Kenya was now categorised as a “non-source country” for recruitment into the Russian military, meaning Kenyans would no longer be enlisted.
Kenya’s inclusion on a Russian military recruitment “stop list” had already been reported by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi in Parliament earlier this month.
The Kenyan Embassy in Moscow had reported no new enlistments since the measure took effect.
NIS report put recruitment figure above 1,000
The appointment comes amid concern over the number of Kenyans recruited to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine.
A National Intelligence Service report presented to lawmakers in February said more than 1,000 Kenyans had been recruited.
At the time, it listed 89 on the frontline, 39 hospitalised and 28 missing in action.
A separate investigation by Journalists for Justice documented 841 Kenyan recruits and at least 76 confirmed deaths by June 2026.
The investigation said recruitment networks had drawn people to Russia with promises of civilian jobs before some were directed into military service.
The government has separately recorded 354 Kenyans connected to the conflict, including people on the frontline, those whose whereabouts are unknown, those reported killed or missing, hospitalised or repatriated, and five confirmed prisoners of war.
Mudavadi told Parliament that 62 Kenyans had been repatriated by October 9.
Ruto did not give a number of people the Defence Attaché is expected to assist or a timeline for their return.
His statement also did not detail how compensation claims would be assessed or processed.
The two leaders discussed other areas of cooperation, including scholarships for Kenyan students and a proposed bilateral labour agreement.
Ruto said the scholarship offer would increase from 70 to 300 places in fields including health, artificial intelligence, technology, aviation and cybersecurity.
