Ghana says Putin promised not to recruit its citizens for the war against Ukraine
Following the Russia-Africa summit, Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has prohibited the participation of Ghanaian citizens in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Reuters reported this on October 31.
Specifically, according to the Ghanaian Foreign Minister, this concerns the illegal recruitment or voluntary enlistment of Ghanaian citizens into military service.
Ablakwa also stated that the Russian Federation has agreed to cooperate with Ghana on the construction of a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant.
This follows an announcement by the Russian state corporation Rosatom that it is in negotiations with four African countries—including Ghana—regarding major nuclear energy projects.
Moscow also pledged support for Ghana’s agricultural sector and an increase in scholarships for Ghanaian students studying in the Russian Federation.
On October 27, the “I Want to Live” (Khochu Zhyt) project released a video message addressed to the participants of the Russia-Africa summit from African prisoners of war who had fought on the Russian side against Ukraine. They requested assistance in returning to their home countries or to Russia.
The “I Want to Live” project noted that citizens from 18 African countries have been taken prisoner by Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war; however, Russia has not included a single foreign prisoner of war in any prisoner exchanges. On October 26, Bloomberg reported that between January 1 and September 30, 2026, the Russian Federation recruited 699 citizens of Burundi and 530 citizens of Zimbabwe. Since the beginning of 2026, there has also been an increase in the number of recruits from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Cameroon. The publication noted that Africans may be lured by promises of money and “safe work,” as well as the prospect of obtaining Russian citizenship.