Russia recruited South African mercenaries in video game: one already killed in Luhansk Oblast

Russia has recruited citizens of the Republic of South Africa to take part in the war against Ukraine via the online communication service Discord.

Source: Bloomberg, citing documents and sources

Details: The case concerns at least two men who regularly communicated on Discord while playing the military simulator Arma 3 by Czech developer Bohemia Interactive. After contact with a person using the handle @Dash, they travelled to Russia and signed one-year contracts with the Russian Armed Forces.

Before leaving, the men met in Cape Town and together visited the Russian consulate. They flew to Russia on 29 July 2024 via the United Arab Emirates. According to Bloomberg, they signed contracts with the Russian army near St Petersburg.

"In addition to what they saw as lucrative military contracts, the two South Africans were told they could potentially get Russian citizenship and further their education if they served in the military," the article says.

After several weeks of basic training, one of the South African nationals was sent to the front line in Ukraine, where he served as an assistant grenadier. His death during fighting in Luhansk Oblast in October 2024 was confirmed by a medical death certificate. The whereabouts of the second man are currently unknown.

The recruitment of foreigners into the Russian army has caused controversy in South Africa, where participation by citizens in hostilities on the side of a foreign state has been illegal since 1998. Bloomberg has previously reported on other cases of Africans being recruited to fight against Ukraine.

Since October 2024, access to Discord in Russia has been restricted, but the recruitment took place before that.

According to the agency, Russia has also recruited citizens of Kenya, Cameroon and Burkina Faso to take part in the war against Ukraine, but this is the first known instance of the Russians using gaming platforms and communication services for recruitment.

Background: Earlier reports said that Russia had stepped up the recruitment of women from Africa, Asia and Latin America to work at facilities producing attack drones in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan. Job advertisements were distributed via the BRICS student commission and popular bloggers on Instagram and TikTok.

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