Statement by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Ghana Accra, 5 November 2026
Following the appearance on the streets of Accra of billboards bearing the slogans ‘I want to live’ and ‘I want to find’, which were put up in late October 2026, the Russian Embassy in Ghana would like to make the following statement.
First and foremost, we consider it necessary to clarify who is actually behind the website StopRussianRecruiters.org, which organised the aforementioned campaign. Contrary to the pretence of being a human rights initiative, this website was created and is managed by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. This is not a humanitarian project, but a direct instrument of Ukrainian state propaganda, deliberately used to discredit Russia on the African continent.
The claims disseminated by this organisation, alleging that Russia is supposedly luring Africans, including Ghanaian citizens, into contract service by deceptive means, are blatant lies. The Russian side has never used, nor does it use, deceptive schemes to recruit foreign nationals into military service. No convincing and verifiable evidence to the contrary has been presented by any authoritative international body.
Moreover, the campaign launched on the streets of Ghana has completely lost all meaning following the successful outcome of President J.D. Mahama’s visit to the Russian Federation and his talks with President V.V. Putin. At the meeting in Moscow, the Russian side unequivocally confirmed at the highest level that Ghanaian citizens would not serve in Russia on a contractual basis. Thus, the billboards, which continue to mislead the Ghanaian public, are nothing more than a belated and malicious provocation aimed at undermining the friendly relations between Russia and Ghana.
Against this backdrop, Kiev’s own behaviour appears particularly cynical. The Ukrainian side is unabashedly publishing advertisements in the Ghanaian media recruiting foreigners, including Africans, for contract service in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For instance, on 8 October 2026, the Ghanaian website yen.com.gh published an article about nine military vacancies open to foreign nationals, including positions such as platoon commander, FPV drone operator and others ( https://yen.com.gh/people/313437-ukraine-lists-9-military-jobs-open-foreign-nationals-shares-available-vacancies/ ). Similar advertisements are also being circulated through other channels, including official resources of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.
This practice exposes the blatant hypocrisy of the Kiev regime: whilst accusing Russia of non-existent ‘fraudulent schemes’, Ukraine itself is openly and cynically recruiting foreigners, including people from Africa, to take part in combat operations. According to our security agencies, over 20,000 mercenaries are currently fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These actions by the Kiev authorities are leading to deaths of people who are being used as ‘cannon fodder’ in the interests of Ukraine’s Western backers.
The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ghana calls on the Ghanaian public not to succumb to provocations and to take a critical view of disinformation campaigns originating from organisations affiliated with Ukrainian state bodies. Russia remains a consistent and reliable partner of Ghana, committed to the steady development of bilateral relations based on mutual respect and trust.
