The Russian Embassy in Nigeria has firmly denied allegations that Nigerian students in Russia are being coerced into joining the military to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
This denial comes in response to a Bloomberg report claiming that Russia has been pressuring African students to enlist in its armed forces as a condition for visa renewal. According to the news agency, Moscow is allegedly recruiting thousands of migrants and foreign students, including Nigerians, to strengthen its military efforts in Ukraine.
Citing a European official, Bloomberg stated that some Africans in Russia on work visas were being detained and coerced into choosing between deportation or military service. In response, the Russian Embassy in Nigeria denied the claims, describing them as false and detrimental to Russian-Nigerian relations.
“The Embassy of the Russian Federation is compelled to emphasize that such news is not only false but also damages Russian-Nigerian educational cooperation by misleading numerous scholarship and grant applicants as well as their partners, who could be extremely concerned by such fakes,” the Embassy said, according to Nigerian media.
