Kenyan police arrest man accused of recruiting fighters for Russia's war in Ukraine

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya have arrested a man named in the alleged scheme that duped Kenyans with promises of skilled work in Russia, only for them to end up on the front lines of the fighting in Ukraine.

Festus Omwamba was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, near the border with Ethiopia, and will be transported to the capital, Nairobi. Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri said Omwamba was fleeing after returning from Russia.

Omwamba, who was identified by three Kenyan recruits who spoke to The Associated Press, had gone missing after families started protesting the disappearances and deaths of their relatives in the war in Ukraine.

The Kenyan government last week said more than 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine and that at least 89 Kenyans were still on the front line, 39 were hospitalized, 28 were missing in action, and others had returned home. At least one person was confirmed dead.

An intelligence report presented to Kenya’s Parliament by the majority leader, Kimani Ichung’wah, said Kenyan and Russian government officials colluded with rogue job recruitment agencies to lure Kenyans to the front lines.

The Russian Embassy in Nairobi denied the allegations, saying in a statement Thursday that it never issued visas to anyone intending to travel to Russia to fight in Ukraine. It added: “The Russian Federation does not preclude citizens of foreign countries from voluntarily enlisting in the armed forces.”

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi on Feb. 9 told the AP that he would travel to Russia for what he called a “diplomatic approach to rein in any dubious entities that are taking advantage of anyone in this misadventure.”

Mudavadi added that efforts to secure the release of Kenyans in Ukrainian prisons and repatriate those in Russia were ongoing.

“You recall that even at the highest level, the president made an appeal that if indeed there are Kenyans who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law, the appeal was made to the Ukrainian government to look at how they can be processed and brought back,” the minister explained.

Omwamba’s arrest is a major development in the government’s push to stop the recruitment of Kenyans to fight in Ukraine.

A recruit who escaped from the front line and sought refuge at the Kenyan Embassy in Russia, and was later processed for return home, John Kamau, told the AP he met Omwamba at a house in Nairobi where fellow recruits awaiting travel to Russia were kept.

Another recruit, who requested anonymity for fear of being tracked down by Russians, said Omwamba avoided contacting the recruits by text message and would instead call them or meet them in person.

The recruit had signed up after being told he would get a plumbing job in Russia, but on arrival, his passport was taken away and he was taken to a military camp for a few days before being deployed to the front line.

All recruits said Omwamba oversaw their tourist visa applications and ticket purchases, and two weeks after the first contact, they received visas and traveled to Russia.

Susan Khandasi Kuloba, 41, the mother of David Shitanda, one of the Kenyans who joined the Russian army in Ukraine, holds his photo during an interview with The Associated Press in the informal settlement of Kibera, Nairobi, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Otieno)

Susan Khandasi Kuloba, 41, the mother of David Shitanda, one of the Kenyans who joined the Russian army in Ukraine, holds his photo during an interview with The Associated Press in the informal settlement of Kibera, Nairobi, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Otieno)

Festus Omwamba sits inside the dock at Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A family member of Kenyan who joined the Russian army in Ukraine hold photos of their loved ones during a protest urging the government to repatriate them and their remains in Nairobi, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Family members of Kenyans who joined the Russian army in Ukraine hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling on the government to urgently repatriate them and their remains in Nairobi, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Family members of Kenyans who joined the Russian army in Ukraine hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling on the government to urgently repatriate them and their remains in Nairobi, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in Bangladesh’s capital on Thursday ordered authorities to request that Interpol issue a red notice for the arrest of a British lawmaker on charges of corruption in a private real estate project.

Tulip Siddiq, a former British minister and an MP from Hampstead and Highgate in London, faces charges of corruption in Bangladesh as the country’s Anti-corruption Commission pursues a case against her.

Siddiq has already been sentenced to six years in jail in Bangladesh in three other corruption cases all involving her powerful aunt, the country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina was ousted in 2024 in a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has been in exile in India since Aug. 5, 2024.

Siddiq earlier rejected all allegations against her, termed the verdicts as a “complete farce,” and said she is a British citizen, not a Bangladeshi national.

The commission said that Siddiq, using her connection with Hasina, influenced a process to award land to a private company in Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan area. Siddiq is the daughter of Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Mohammed Sabbir Faiz issued the order Thursday upon a petition by the corruption watchdog.

The order came after the commission’s Assistant Director A.K.M. Mortuza Ali Sagar sought the order for a red notice through Interpol to facilitate her arrest.

There was no immediate reaction from Siddiq on Thursday.

In January last year, Siddiq resigned as a British government minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Keir Starmer under pressure because of her ties to Hasina. Siddiq had said she had been cleared of wrongdoing but was quitting as economic secretary to the Treasury because the issue was becoming “a distraction from the work of the government.”

Three days after Hasina's ouster, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as interim leader and eventually oversaw an election on Feb. 12. The new government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the son of Hasina's main political rival and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has taken over.

FILE - Tulip Siddiq, left, stands beside Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, Pool, File)